Generation K: Tales From The Front Lines
by Jocelyn
Summary: Missing moments from the Kaiju War. There was heroism, heartbreak, self-discovery, and Shatterdome Shenanigans. Chapter 8: Adventures in parenting for Stacker Pentecost, as Mako careens through school, teen culture, dating, and dreams with other children of the Jaeger Program.
1. It Takes TrustAnd Alcohol

_**Author's Notes:**__ Missing Moments from the Kaiju War! This fic is in the same headcanon-verse as my other Pacific Rim fics, but they're not required reading. It's really a series of loosely-related ficlets. It draws heavily from __Pacific Rim: Tales From Year Zero__, the graphic novel, as well as the movie and novelization. A guide to the original character pilots is at the end of the chapter, but I've used canon characters wherever possible. Hope you like! Please do give me your feedback! (And if there are particular missing moments/shatterdome shenanigans you'd like to see from any point during the war, let me know!)_

**Generation K: Tales From The Front Lines**

**Chapter One: It Takes Trust… And Alcohol.**

_March 2015, Kodiak Island, Alaska…_

Once the first line of Jaegers was greenlit by the newly-christened PPDC, the fledgling Jaeger Program had no shortage of volunteer pilots. That was a good problem to have, because even before the April attack on Vancouver, Caitlin Lightcap and Jasper Schoenfeld were burning through the test pilots they did have with almost no results. Hardly any of the candidate pairs could seem to connect through the pons.

"I don't understand," Stacker Pentecost said, baffled by their test reports. "You and Lieutenant D'onofrio linked up the first time you tried it."

"I know!" Caitlin said, frustrated. She glanced at Schoenfeld and quickly looked away, but not before Stacker noticed. "It didn't… _feel _that difficult," she murmured. "It's strange to experience, but I don't know why so few of the test pilots can even seem to form a connection."

Lieutenant D'onofrio, just observing the conversation up until then, ventured a suggestion: "Maybe it needs some kind of mental connection to start with. Most of the candidates you've tested who make it all the way through the physical and neural screening are strangers. I've seen a lot of them getting introduced the same day of testing. We, ah, we'd been working together for months by the time of the test."

Seeing the color that rose to both pilots' faces, Stacker had a feeling it had been more than just a simple familiarity. But still, it was a lead worth exploring. "A good friend of mine from the RAF is going through the screening as we speak," he mused. "Perhaps she and I should give it a try. I'll put the word out to the national liaisons. There must be some colleagues, relatives, even romantic couples who work together in the services and would be willing to try." He politely didn't change his tone on the reference to couples.

D'onofrio said quickly, "I knew a Blackhawk pilot who had a twin brother – they were both Army Rangers. I'll look him up."

* * *

_April 2015…_

Kodiak Island was nicknamed the Jaeger Academy as Lightcap and D'onofrio struggled to instruct the volunteers on how to navigate the strange mental bridge, which D'onofrio nicknamed the drift.

"It does feel like floating," agreed Trevin Gage, D'onofrio's former colleague from Iraq. He and his twin brother, Bruce, were finding it confusing and disorienting and still figuring out how to operate the test rig, but they at least could seem to stay connected.

Stacker and Tamsin were the next to link up, followed swiftly by the Kaidanovskys from Russia and the Jessops from Japan.

Then came Karloff, and Stacker both wanted to watch the Jaeger deploy against the monster and feared what would happen if the gambit failed.

"Caitlin Lightcap is so far the most successful test subject in this… _drift_," he warned the hastily-assembled delegates over the video conference. "Not to mention the designer of the pons. If we lose her, we may not be able to do duplicate her results."

But Lightcap herself was fiercely in favor of it, and once the Canadian military gave the go-ahead, Alexsandra Kaidanovsky shoved past the scrambling support crew with smartphone in hand, and ordered, "Speak all you know of the drift!"

So, even as they suited up, Caitlin and Sergio dictated. Stacker and Tamsin, the Gage twins, the Jessops, and the Kaidanovskys hovered nearby, drinking in every word of advice possible about the mental bond.

"Don't follow the memories," Sergio warned. "No matter how intense they are. They'll drag you off track if you let them."

"Stay in the drift, the drift is silence," Caitlin agreed. "Then you can see and feel what you're doing."

"Don't judge."

Despite the desperation they all felt, a few chuckles escaped the listeners. It was an apt point; several of the candidate teams showed some promise, only to storm out of the testing rooms and refuse to continue, apparently after seeing something that one or both didn't like.

"You have to trust each other," was Caitlin's last advice as Brawler Yukon powered up. "Be ready to see everything and know everything and trust that it's safe."

Was it possible? Stacker wondered. To be exposed on that level and still manage to focus enough to actually fight a kaiju? Test runs and simulations were one thing, but… would this actually work?

Forty-eight hours later, the crowded base erupted into chaos and people streamed through the halls and the grounds, screaming in joy and triumph, and scenes of celebration and victory flooded the media from all over the world. The Kaidanovskys broke out a bottle of vodka and passed it around to their fellow trainees.

"We will do this," they vowed. "Caitlin and Sergio have proven all we need to know: it can be done."

* * *

_Summer 2015…_

The now-official Jaeger Academy was flooded with volunteers after Karloff, but the success rate at drifting wasn't much higher than it had been before. Stacker and Tamsin gradually got the hang of it, and were among the top candidate teams in that first "class," as the Gages jokingly christened them.

It still wasn't easy. Bruce and Trevin, despite being seasoned Army Rangers, experienced in combat and battle stress, nearly derailed their own tests not with the horrors of battlefields, but with the memory of a car accident that had almost killed Bruce when they were teenagers.

Stacker pulled the test unit off his head and slid to the floor, shaking and sweat-drenched and hiding his face behind his arm the first time he lived K-Day from Tamsin's perspective and saw his sister's plane explode.

The prospective pilots got into the habit of gathering on Saturday nights in the makeshift mess hall for "recovery drinks" as the Jessops put it. Where the Kaidanovskys kept getting their hands on top-shelf liquor, much of which was only available in continental Asia, Stacker would dearly have loved to know, but they refused to share their secret.

Two months into testing, Stacker and Tamsin thought they were _finally _starting to learn how to control the drift and stop falling into past nightmares.

The first line of Jaegers had been labeled the Mark-1's. There would be seven of them, and Brawler Yukon, the prototype, would make eight.

"Eight," Tamsin breathed as the test pilots crowded around the windows of the huge assembly warehouse, gazing at the massive constructions under way. "We took down a kaiju with one in a single day, and we'll have eight."

"Eight to start with," Herc Hansen pointed out with a feral grin, eyes on the Jaegers. "Another five or six next year, Schoenfeld says, if they can match the pilots."

_God, I wish Luna were here to see this._ After two months of trying to link their minds, Stacker thought there were times when he wasn't sure when a thought that drifted through his head was his or hers. And in the end, they both decided it didn't matter.

That wasn't to say it got "easier." Far from it.

Over a hundred teams had now attempted testing in the pons and the drift, and nine remained. Five of the pairs were blood relatives: the Gage twins, the Chen twins, the Lis and the Hansens were siblings, and Yan-Jie Lim and Fang Lao were first cousins. Two more pairs, the Jessops and the Kaidanovskys, were married couples.

The last pair, Miguel Blanco and Maria Lopez of Argentina, had only met after K-Day, but they seemed to have bonded over their shared heritage and culture so far from home. Tamsin liked watching them dance, and Stacker sometimes let her chivvy him into being her partner when the Argentinians or the Panamanians were game to giving lessons (especially when Scott Hansen came sniffing around.)

On one such occasion, Tamsin was partnered with Carlos Chen while Jordana gave her advice and the Argentinians served as demonstrators, and Stacker was just content to watch and nurse his drink when Trevin Gage came half-staggering into the mess hall.

Shell-shocked test pilots were an all-too-common sight, but the Gage twins had seemed mostly past that stage. "You all right, mate?" Duc Jessop asked in alarm.

"Gimme a drink. Gimme ALL the drinks!" Trevin croaked. The Kaidanovskys just raised their eyebrows in unison and passed him an entire bottle of Russian vodka, which he chugged like a pro.

A very red-faced Bruce came slinking in a few minutes later, trailed by the flat-out giggling Kaori Jessop and Caitlin Lightcap. "Sorry," he kept muttering at his twin.

"Mm, someone saw something he didn't want to see," Sergio D'onofrio concluded, and now Stacker was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Jordana Chen and Jing Li were now on either side of the traumatized Gages, patting them sympathetically and shooting each other dismayed looks.

Sasha joined Stacker and Tamsin, Maria and Miguel, and the Jessops, and raised her glass with a sly grin. "Let us drink to _not _drifting with a relative!"

Tamsin laughed, and Herc adjourned to the "therapy table" to console Bruce and Trevin. Stacker let himself smile and joined the toast, murmuring, "Thank God for small mercies."

* * *

A week later, he ate those words. It was Tamsin who realized first what was coming: Stacker might not be drifting with a relative, but in a way, he had it even worse… he was drifting with a relative's former lover.

As their drift stabilized and memories began to flow more freely, she awkwardly tried to forewarn him. It gave him some consternation, certainly, but Stacker Pentecost was a man of the world, and had raised Luna through her teens. Of course, he hadn't expected her to be celibate, and had known and approved of her relationship with Tamsin – after all, if he hadn't approved, surely they couldn't have drifted together.

But, he discovered… it was a very different thing to see it in the drift from _Tamsin's _perspective.

They came stumbling out of the drift into daylight as the days grew shorter again. Stacker kept his composure… just.

Tamsin's pale redhead's complexion worked against her when it came to embarrassment – she was blushing through her hairline. Once the technicians had the caps off and the instruments powered down, he let go… and slowly turned to her with his face screwed up in an appalled wrinkle of big-brotherly horror.

"I WARNED you!" Tamsin practically shrieked, mortified and defensive.

They went staggering into the mess hall in search of the Russians, but the Kaidanovskys hadn't arrived yet. "Whoa! The Brits are blitzed!" exclaimed one of the Gages.

"Not yet, but give us time," Tamsin grunted, digging around in the crates behind the "bar" in search of the strongest alcohol available. She shoved the first bottle she found at Stacker without looking at him, having thoroughly assumed "the hunch of shame" as Maria Lopez called it.

"What's this? Tamya? You managed to shock the man of steel?" Sasha Kaidanovsky demanded as she and Aleksis came in.

Of course, the whole population of trainees was gathering for their end-of-the-week pow-wow, and Stacker didn't have the energy to flee. He consoled himself that no one else ever seemed to either – or maybe that was just because it wouldn't look well for the Jaeger pilots to be running around base carrying bottles of alcohol, so they stayed in the mess hall.

So he hunched his own shoulders and waited for the blowback. Caitlin arrived a few minutes later, weary from her dual role as senior drift trainer and fellow pilot, but although the candidates immediately turned to her for explanations, she sportingly refused to talk. (However, she had a terrible poker face, and Stacker could only bear a quick glance over his shoulder before her grin made him focus his attention on his bottle of liquor with determined fascination.)

"Well, I always thought Sevier had a wild side," Scott Hansen was saying, not bothering to lower his voice. Herc was just in Stacker's line of vision, trying (with limited success) to act politely disinterested. "Poor stuffy ol' Stacker just couldn't take it."

Tamsin snorted in unison with several of the women; for a man who fancied himself a player, Scott didn't seem to know the first thing about how to evoke anything other than disdain from fellow candidates or Corps personnel. (He also didn't know that even men who observed decent military protocol were perfectly capable of cutting loose.) Stacker knew Herc Hansen had, and before K-Day, he'd found it easier to cut loose. The slightly-younger trainees still followed the "work hard, play harder" philosophy.

"So, what'd'ja see, mate?" Scott slapped Stacker on the back. "It true what they say about those Scots women?"

Tamsin banged her beer bottle on the table. "You're about to find out it's true we unwind by ripping the balls off mouthy men who won't take the hint to leave off! You want to go snicker like a juvenile, do it somewhere else and leave us in peace – and remember, your turn _is _coming."

Scott finally was distracted from harassing Tamsin as Herc strolled over to slap his back and give him a warning look as he hauled Scott to another table. "Oh, this one already got his. Front row seat to big brother's courtship!"

That surprised Stacker enough to knock him out of his _ohmybloodyfuckinggodIsawmysisterSTOP! _shock, and he glanced back at them. Now Scott was rocking back and forth, mostly playful, but mock-groaning at the mortification that resulted from memories in the drift that a sibling partner really didn't want to see.

Scott was already well into the Saturday night imbibements, and his loud speculations were grating on Stacker's nerves. Herc managed to prod him to go get himself a base pass for some of the off-base bars that were close by. There were enough local women lusting after the pilots of these strange new mechs that even a bloke of social skills as abysmal as Scott Hansen's could at least hope to get some stress relief.

"Sorry about that," Herc muttered after Scott was gone. "You two all right? Need something stronger?"

"Is there any?" He and Tamsin had simply grabbed the first bottles they could get their hands on.

Jing Li and Maria Lopez were taking inventory of the Kaidanovskys' stash and shaking their heads. "We save most of the good stuff for the siblings and their trauma. We did not expect you to have that trouble," said Sasha. "Unless…"

Rumor had it that she had been in the Russian Diplomatic Corps, some kind of Natasha Romanoff–meets-James Bond. For a woman who _claimed_ no more special skills than mixed martial arts, middle rank Russian military, and a few languages from her travels, Sasha Kaidanovsky was… disturbingly good at getting to the bottom of things.

She looked from Tamsin to Stacker and back again, then her eyebrows shot up, and her composure almost broke. She and her husband exchanged a few sly grins, then Aleksis gravely got up and brought Stacker another bottle. No wonder their drift tests had them so far ahead of the rest of the pilots.

"Okay, this isn't fair, you two aren't even related!" Bruce Gage protested. "What could possibly be worse than drifting with a sibling?!"

He and Tamsin winced in unison and now she was wrinkling her nose back at him (but trying not to laugh.) "Aww, now they've gone non-verbal on us!" Duc complained. "Spill, Stacks, we're all Jaeger pilots here!"

Despite the wheedling from the nosy ones, Caitlin steadfastly refused to talk. And, of all the sibling drifters, it was Herc who finally worked it out: "Oh, _hell!_" He went from red to white to red again. "You poor bastard!"

With humiliation now inevitable (and rapid progress into their respective alcoholic consolation) Stacker and Tamsin just let it pass with a wry grins. Stacker had a bottle in each hand and alternated between pulls from one and the other as Tamsin buried her face in her arms.

"You're a brave man," Min Li told him, giving his older sister, Jing, a look of utter horror. "I think I would have to kill myself."

"You mean _I _would have to kill you," Jing retorted, reaching past him to pat Stacker's arm – and pass him another beer.

There were now about a dozen bottles between Stacker and Tamsin, and he thought he might just put a dent in all of them. That was probably why the whole situation was starting to go from horrific to funny.

"I blame you for this," he informed Sergio.

The man put a hand to his chest, all innocence. "Hey, now, Cait's the one who designed the mind-melding machine in the first place!"

"Traitor," Caitlin grumbled.

Stacker kept glaring at Sergio. "But _you _were the one who with the bright idea of siblings drifting!"

"Oooh, he's got you there! That's right, we owe you an ass-kicking too!" the Gages declared, and the Chens voiced their agreement, and soon they were joined by the other siblings as well as the cousins, all blaming their mental scars on Sergio.

_Luna would be laughing her arse off._ He assumed that was his thought, until he saw Tamsin grinning at him as she swiped one of his bottles. He wrinkled his nose at her again, just so she'd know he was still mad at her, and she giggled.

They were well into their drinks, and inhibitions came down that night even more than usual. "Scott'll be disappointed," Herc chortled as the ribbing got going. "He's hot for Tamsin."

"He's hot for everything female and breathing," Kaori Jessop replied, having slid most of the way into Duc's lap.

"You're hot," said Yan-Jie Lim abruptly, gesturing at Kaori.

"Oy!" Duc exclaimed.

"I was jus' saying!"

Herc guffawed and slapped Duc on the back. "Look but don't touch the married ones, Yan-Jie. Don't worry, Scott's the same," he added. For a moment, his humor faded, and he mused to Stacker and Tamsin, "He remembered her, you know. Your Luna. Good pilot."

"The best," Tamsin agreed, raising her bottle to him. For once, they'd both sopped up enough vodka (and whiskey… and sake… and whatever the hell that vile moonshine was that the Gages had brought to the party) that the nostalgia of thinking about life pre-K-Day came without a wave of crushing pain. "Wonder who she'd have drifted with. Stacker or me?"

"You. She thought I got in her business too much as it was," Stacker snorted, and Herc laughed again.

"Yeah, Scott and me wonder what the hell we were thinking."

"We all do," agreed Min Li. Jing was playing some kind of rapid-fire Chinese card game with Yan-Jie and Fang. "I had enough of her opinions before she got into my head!"

"I _heard _that!" Jing announced, and launched into a stream of Mandarin too fast for Stacker to follow (except for the profane parts.) The other Chinese pair and Sasha Kaidanovsky laughed and added their commentary to the tirade, and someone (possibly Herc) started throwing poker chips.

It all went downhill from there.

When the sun came up, Caitlin, Kaori, and Maria were passed out in a pile under a table, with Duc's feet sticking out from underneath them. Trevin Gage had last been seen making out with Jordana Chen (and Bruce had disappeared around the same time with Carlos.) The Kaidanovskys had run off to quarters giggling like a pair of high schoolers at the prom. Sergio and Miguel were singing soulful Latin pop ballads – neither even remotely on-key. Yan-Jie, Fang, and the Lis were playing full-contact dominoes, and Stacker, Tamsin, and Herc were arguing over whether the RAF or RAAF would be able to beat the aliens from Independence Day.

Stacker never could remember who actually won that debate.

**~Fin~**

**The Jaeger Program, Class 2015-A Original Characters**

_The Mark-1's (along with Stacker and Tamsin, Sasha and Aleksis Kaidanovsky, Duc and Kaori Jessop, Herc and Scott Hansen, and Bruce and Trevin Gage, we have...)_

Miguel Blanco and Maria Lopez: _Talon "Tango" Tasmania_: Argentinian Navy pilots, they were friends before enlisting in the PPDC and got into the habit of dancing for fun - and were discovered to be drift compatible. They would go on to be assigned to Australia's first Jaeger.

Min and Jing Li: _Horizon Brave_: China's first Jaeger pilots, siblings and air force officers in their early 30s, they helped shape the program that would become the Jaeger Academy and recruited many talented people into the program, including a certain set of triplets.

_The Mark-2's_

Carlos and Jordana Chen: _Puma Real_: Fraternal twins from Panama (also of Chinese descent), in their late 20s, they were commercial pilots when the Panamanian government asked them to attempt drifting after the Gage twins' success became known.

Yan-Jie Lim and Fang Lao: Silver Lion: Chinese air force pilots in their late 20s, first cousins, they were recruited by the Lis and would go on to pilot China's second Jaeger.


	2. Spectral Evidence

_**Author's Notes:**__ Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! Please keep them coming! This installment turned out a lot more serious than I'd planned on, but I promise Shatterdome Shenanigans for Chapter Three! The concept of "drift shock" is loosely based on other fanon ideas about pilots needing physical contact with each other after drifting - and of course, that would only be compounded by the stress of combat. On a lighter note, that fanon has also firmly convinced me that snuggling is in the Ranger job description._

_**Canon Note:**__ Keunsango's attack on Busan, South Korea is my take on Travis Beacham's blog story of a "fast" kaiju hitting the country during the Olympic tryouts._

_**One More Thing:** This week's update of Aurora Borealis is delayed, for those follow that fic. My apologies, I've been slammed at work, and actually hadn't expected to be able to post anything this weekend, but editing this chapter took a lot less time than the other. I'm hoping to have it up mid-week._

**Chapter Two: Spectral Evidence**

_Autumn 2015, Kodiak Island, Alaska…_

Military Psychology blamed it all on Caitlin Lightcap – at first. Stacker and his fellow veterans supposed that their reasoning was correct… "But if I see one more report treating it like a character flaw, I'm gonna have words with them," Herc vowed.

The press office took great pains to keep the media from getting wind of the emotional state of Brawler Yukon's pilots after her first two fights with real, live kaiju. The monsters died and the pilots lived and the world celebrated. It didn't dawn on anyone that there was a delay of almost two days between each kill and the first appearance of the triumphant Rangers.

As far as the internally-available information went, Stacker and Tamsin had their doubts about whether the report was accurate, given the bias that it showed. They'd both been in the service long enough to quietly acknowledge how often treatment of women and civilians could be slanted by unsympathetic superiors. The Gage twins, both experienced in the horrors of ground combat, voiced the same suspicions:

"Since when is 'hysterical' a technical term anymore? Did Dr. Freud over in Psych diagnose shell-shock too, or is it only the outdated gender crap?" Trevin demanded scornfully.

"Did you know anyone who saw her after the choppers got them out of the pod in Vancouver?" Tamsin asked. "Was she that distraught?"

"They were _both _pretty freaked," Bruce confirmed. The twins knew some of the American and Canadian rescue crews who'd been the first on-site after Brawler defeated Karloff. "I think it's the drift mind-meld; it made them disoriented."

"You can't blame them," muttered Caleb, one of the American Marines who'd finished the first stage of drift testing. "We freaked out in the damn lab the first time around." He and his partner, Tanisha Davis, were the only American pair still in pons training out of the second batch of prospective pilots.

"And…well… Dr. Lightcap used to get panic attacks," an EMT crewman pointed out. "It's in her records. So that could've sort of… passed over to Lieutenant D'onofrio – not that I'm blaming her. Even in that Jaeger, face-to-face with a freaking kaiju? I'd shit myself!"

"Bet you anything some of us do," Duc Jessop muttered, and there were chuckles all around.

"Every damn one of those psychologists and the empty suits who keep saying Lightcap's too unstable would have a puddle of piss under their chairs," said Herc. "They killed it, for Chrissakes! Bloody shrinks act like no soldier ever breaks down after a combat mission, and that's bullshit."

Every veteran in the conversation nodded.

Despite the trainees' unanimous defense of Caitlin, some of the higher-ups insisted that Lightcap couldn't take the stress. The US military was agitating for more of their officers to undergo training, with pompous insinuations that surely their troops would have what it took. Bruce and Trevin Gage called in whole companies of troops whom they'd served within combat, as did some of the other trainees who'd been in the service. But the success rate didn't look any higher to Stacker.

Only one pair of American Marines remained in the pons training by mid-autumn, though Tamsin thought (and Stacker agreed) that it spoke well of the Gages that every single officer who failed Jaeger training stayed on with the Program to form its support crews.

Jing and Min Li's collection of seasoned Chinese officers from all branches of their military all struck out – but the teenaged triplets they'd found street-fighting in Shanghai were still in.

"Go figure!" laughed Duc Jessop as their superiors sputtered over Pons Science's latest report. Japan now had a third Jaeger in progress, slated for launch sometime in 2016, but only two pairs of potential pilots: the Jessops and Stacker and Tamsin.

"Vice Marshall Ketteridge only recruited out of the bases as far as I know," Herc Hansen told them. "We're nil for about two-hundred-eighty tries." Australia's commanding officer had been another insisting on recruitment being restricted to the military, and that Caitlin's instability was the case in point.

"But apparently there's not a problem with a lecherous alcoholic," Tamsin grumbled. Scott had backed off from her, Jordana Chen, and Maria Lopez (after multiple strongly-worded conversations with their respective partners _and _Herc), but he surveyed every new group of arrivals at Kodiak like a buffet.

After Karloff came Peuchen, in August, still well before any of the battle-ready Mark-1 Jaegers were available for launch. So again, the prototype went into battle alone, and Stacker was among those who watched from the spotter craft as humanity scored another kill.

Then the two pilots were retrieved from the control pod.

Stacker had to admit he felt a pang of dismay when he watched the rescue/recovery crews having to practically manhandle Lightcap and D'onofrio into medical. She wasn't hysterical, and neither was he, but they both seemed to be in shock and distress, especially when the medics tried to separate them. They seemed "clingy," for lack of a better description, even squeezing onto a bed in the hospital once their injuries were treated.

Tamsin sensed his musings, and murmured, "Have a heart, Stacks. We've all taken to leaning on each other after tests. Real combat in the drift? If they feel better sharing a bed, it's no one's bloody business!"

Yes, that was a damn good point.

Stacker did worry that the traumatic stress of combat was only amplified by the otherworldly magnitude of Jaeger-versus-kaiju, but sternly reminded himself that in that case, his concern should be for the health and welfare of the two pilots themselves, _not _public appearances. That was what raised the hackles of so many of his fellows when they read the "engagement reports," and fed his own sense of indignation.

And in November, still a month shy of formal launch but well into full deployment tests in Coyote Tango, the next kaiju made them all reexamine their thinking.

* * *

_November 13, 2015…  
Kitakyushu, Japan…_

When Brawler Yukon's leg was crushed in its battle with Keunsango, the test crews of Coyote Tango and Tacit Ronin were already prepping for deployment. In their airfield in Kyoto, Stacker and Tamsin were slightly closer to the site of the attack than the Jessops, who were working outside Tokyo, but not by much.

The trouble was, the UN and the PPDC delegates couldn't make up their damned minds. "_But we haven't even formally launched them yet!_" protested Dustin Krieger over the hastily-prepared teleconference.

"That didn't stop you with Brawler," Tamsin retorted. "He was never supposed to be used in combat, and he's killed two of these bastards! All of our combat systems check out."

"_We can't just leave Caitlin and Sergio without backup!"_ Kaori agreed from Tokyo. "_We can't afford to lose her or let that kaiju loose!_"

But then, there was an explosion of cursing over the link to Tokyo, and Duc announced, "_Tacit Ronin's weapons check out, but lift gear is non-functional_."

_Oh, shit. _A minute ago, Stacker had been hoping he and Tamsin would be the ones tapped, but now… _Be careful what you wish for._ He looked at Tamsin, then at the stats on the HUD for the other eastern Jaegers.

"_Horizon Brave and Cherno Alpha don't have full weapons _or_ lift gear_," warned someone.

_It's up to us. We're the only combat-ready Jaeger on the continent._ "We're ready," Stacker said into the comm.

A low murmur of voices in the vid conference followed as generals, admirals, and diplomats from thirty nations looked between the video feed of Brawler Yukon dueling alone against the biggest, fastest kaiju yet and the statistics of seven nearly-finished Jaegers.

Only three were fully equipped for lift and combat: Romeo Blue, Talon Tasmania, and Coyote Tango.

It was Lieutenant Colonel Gagnon of Canada who took the first leap, which didn't surprise Stacker. Gagnon had been the one to make the call to deploy Brawler against Karloff in Vancouver, and his gamble had paid off in spades. He was one of the program's most vocal supporters now. "_Go_."

Japan's Admiral Yamamoto was next. "_Go._" The other Japanese officials fell in with him, and in another minute, they had the majority.

"_It is confirmed. You are go for launch, Coyote Tango_!" announced Colonel Okita, who'd been supervising most of the test runs up until then. Now the real thing tripped easily off her tongue. "_Mobilizing Air Defense for Jaeger transport. Pilots, prepare for neural handshake_."

"Nervous, Stacks?" Tamsin murmured as the conn-pod crews ran the final checks.

"Of course not!"

"Me neither."

When the handshake initiated and they plunged into the bluish drift space, the first sound that filled their memory was Luna's voice, singing: "_That's a lie, that's a lie!_" She'd driven her brother mad with that ditty when they were kids, and had still used it to tease him until the day she died. "_That's a lie, a lie, a lie!_"

Past and present flowed together, and the roar of Coyote's turbines mingled with the roar of fighter jet engines in their minds.

_She was twenty-one, starting flight school and assumed her gorgeous classmate was flirting with the flight instructor, until Luna clarified, "He's my big brother."_

_He was ten, and let Luna and Mum talk him into a dragon costume so Luna could be a knight in tinfoil armor for her class party…_

_She was twenty-three, kissing Luna for the first time when they made pilot…_

_He was twelve, looking out the police van window at Luna's tear-streaked face as she struggled and roared at the Social Services woman holding her back, and he wondered what would happen to her now…_

_They weren't even thirty, and the apocalypse was coming and Luna was dead and they were staring at the frames of giant new fighting machines, wondering if this would be the only way of avenging her…_

The conn-pod shook around them as the fleet of heavy-lift choppers raised their iron feet off the ground. They blinked as buildings and hills and highways moved faster and faster below. They weren't meant to be airborne. They were meant to be on the ground fighting, and it was hard to remember to stay still during the lift.

_So it begins_, Tamsin thought at him.

"We'll send another of these bastards to hell," he murmured, baring his teeth at the plume of smoke on the horizon.

Everyone else in Japan was fleeting that place except them. Luna had always run towards fights and fires and smoke too.

Soon there wasn't time to think even of her, or their guiding principles or rallying cries. Brawler was still fighting as well as he could with one hip crushed and his shoulder torn open, using the bulk of his weight just to try to pin Keunsango beneath him long enough for Coyote to arrive, and his one good arm to shield the conn-pod. The kaiju was easily evading what was left of Brawler's weapons. It resembled some kind of armored salamander, long and sleek and squirmy, with limbs that resembled fins rather than reptilian arms. It had swum from the Breach through Japan's inner seas in the shortest time recorded yet – giving the country that much less time to react.

Tamsin and Stacker had had plenty of practice in the simulator and test runs by now. Chasing the memories and losing touch with reality was no longer a serious threat for them, but that didn't mean they didn't both have Luna hovering in the back of the drift space in their shared mind. And the few brain cells that weren't occupied with the task at hand could hear her cheering even as they charged to get in front of the stricken Brawler.

"Brawler, come in?" Tamsin called. "What's your status?"

"_We're okay!_" Caitlin Lightcap grunted. "_Heavy damage to the left leg and right shoulder; we've lost mobility!_"

"We've got this," Stacker said. They released the lift lines and turned to face Keunsango, who was slither-crawling back, assessing this new challenger. "Get clear!"

"_Working on it_," said Sergio. Even through their iron walls, they could hear the groan of Brawler's damaged limbs as his pilots struggled to move him away. At least both of them were well enough to talk even if the Jaeger was in a bad way.

For a few heartbeats, Keunsango and Coyote Tango stared each other down, assessing their opponents. Stacker and Tamsin knew that the kaiju's skin couldn't possibly as translucent as it looked with the iridescent blue veins pulsing through it. Then the monster gathered itself, and they lunged to meet it like a sumo wrestler, arms locking and upper bodies slamming together.

"Arming mortars!" Tamsin bellowed, and Stacker locked his arm along the kaiju's limb to hold it there, trying for point-blank range.

The detonation of their shells so close hurled them and Keungsango apart, but the creature was writhing, its roars filling the air over the crashing debris on the shoreline. It curled around its wounded…hip? Shoulder? But then it turned and shot them a _look _that Stacker might have sworn for an instant was actually hateful.

Could these things feel hate beyond just animal anger at the source of pain? Was that more frightening or less?

Stacker brushed that notion away like a drop of sweat as they braced for the kaiju's retaliatory lunge, and Stacker armed their energy caster. It sizzled to life like a blowtorch in their right arm, and Tamsin caught the beast under the chin with the left hand so Stacker could try to drive it deep. Screeching, its toxic blood sizzling on their iron skin, Keunsango squirmed away, then twisted its entire body around to slam them from the side with one of its back limbs, knocking them clean off their feet.

_"__Coyote!_" someone shouted over the comm.

Rather than waste time trying to right them, Stacker wrenched his arm free and kept the caster firing just to drive the kaiju back. "We're fine!"

Attack and retreat, they grappled along the shoreline of Dokai Bay, pulverizing the port, only able to hope there'd had been time to evacuate the people closest to the scene. Brawler had done well at keeping the kaiju focused on him rather than rampaging wildly through the city

They wrangled the beast until they were almost out of ammunition and depending on the energy caster and the strength of their limbs to keep pummeling him, winding along the ports and ferry terminals in a never-ending dance… and it felt like years and yet only seconds had passed when the headland they stepped out onto gave way beneath their feet.

_"__FUCK!_" one or both of them roared as they and their quarry plunged headlong into the bay.

Alarms shrieked and sparks flew, and they knew at once at least parts of the hull were compromised with water coming in, this wasn't good –

\- but where was… coughing and sputtering even though no water had entered the pod itself, they staggered upright, slapping at the emergency controls for the HUD to recalibrate the spectrum and try to detect the kaiju… where the hell was he…

_"__Coyote! Coyote, he's running! The son of a bitch is diving! Goddamnit!_" one of their spotter pilots yelled. _"He's picking up speed, heading north-northwest!"_

"What the f – of all the – bloody WANKER, get back here!"

(Tamsin never let him Stacker live it down that he yelled at a kaiju, but he always countered that she had been right with him in mind and body when they started running after the damn thing.)

"_Stacker, Tamsin, hold it! Coyote Tango, HOLD YOUR POSITION!" _Colonel Okita shouted. "_You're showing hull breaches in both lower limbs and in your outer shielding, you CANNOT take this underwater!"_

"No!" they chorused.

Ludicrous, like a couple of punk teenagers who didn't want to be pulled out of their tussle, but adrenaline and fury still coursed through and between them. They couldn't let the bastard get away, they couldn't, not while he was still alive, they had to stop him, had to finish him and pound his ugly, slimy arse until he didn't move anymore, they _couldn't _stop now…

"_Coyote Tango, system report!_" Rather than argue with them, Okita forced them to look at what they didn't want to face, and as the seconds ticked by and their blood slowed, the bitter truth of their situation came down.

Tamsin sighed heavily, blinking sweat from her eyes. "That's confirmed, outer reactor casing is cracked. Electrical shorts coming in… shit, OW, that hurts… both shoulders. Lift gear's gone on the left side."

Stacker just managed not to spew curses in every language he knew at the top of his lungs, but he and Tamsin were both screaming profanity inside their heads. No lift gear, no possibility of going under water with this damage even if they could swim in a Jaeger as fast as Keunsango was. Even unharmed with their lift choppers, they'd have had trouble keeping pace with this bastard.

"What now?" he asked wearily. "Tacit Ronin's turn?"

"_Romeo Blue's ETA is nine hours, depending on where the target makes landfall again. You dealt some serious blows_," Okita told them. "_He ran, Coyote. No kaiju's ever done that before. Good work_."

_But it's alive. It's fucking alive, which means we didn't finish the job!_ He/she fumed.

But they obeyed when Okita told them to get themselves back onto land for pickup and repairs. Now that there wasn't a monster to distract them, they could feel the damage they'd taken and bitterly had to admit that their superior's call hadn't been wrong. If they'd tried to pursue at sea, they'd have sunk until the power failed, let alone been able to catch their prey. Even if the choppers could have lifted them, continuing the fight in this condition wouldn't be very productive.

_Now we know how Caitlin and Sergio felt. _"What's the word on Brawler? Pilots all right?" Tamsin asked.

_"__Minor injuries. Lightcap won't be walking for a while, but nothing life-threatening. They're in good spirits too,_" said one of the chopper crews.

Stacker felt a wave of smugness from Tamsin as they translated that: So the most experienced Rangers were getting better at controlling the shock and confusion that came with fighting, contrary to what the military psychologists had predicted.

And neither he nor Tamsin predicted what would follow when they deactivated the neural handshake.

* * *

It was like floating… then falling, maybe free-falling from the drift space into some void of horrible nothingness. Tamsin's head was swimming. She hurt and she was lost and worst of all, she was _alone._

He was alone too. She knew that still, she could still feel him like a dull, aching echo in her mind, but it wasn't enough after the drift, and she _needed…_ "Stacker?" Tamsin rasped. Her hands moved on autopilot to disengage her motion rig and she stumbled free and turned instinctively to her right, searching, _reaching…_

She felt him reach back, and they crashed into each other and fell in a heap on the floor. "God," he mumbled. He was trembling. Even through their suits and armor and helmets with no part of their flesh actually connected, she could feel that.

_"__Coyote! Sevier, Pentecost, do you copy?"_

"We're here," Stacker grunted, not lessening his grip on Tamsin.

_"__This is Medical; what's wrong? And don't say nothing!_" said someone in LOCCENT.

"'s like… shock," Tamsin said, forcing herself to think, to try and analyze it. "No injuries, but can't… focus…" _Just need you, don't let go, I can't…_

_"__I'm thinking this post-combat shock thing isn't just Brawler_," said someone else.

Stacker nodded, a weak chuckle escaping his throat. "Good thinking."

It wasn't too bad, just disconcerting, scrambling out of the escape hatch while trying to hang onto each other, huddling on Coyote's damaged shoulder, the world a blur of smoke and light and wreckage. At first, the purpose of two choppers didn't dawn on them… until they were pulled apart, Stacker for one lift rig and Tamsin for the other. "Wait! No!"

Tamsin didn't panic easily, and in the drift memories she'd seen, Stacker didn't panic at all. Control was a quality they both cultivated and prized…. and it utterly deserted them. She kicked and thrashed on the chopper floor, shrieking for him, and she knew somehow despite the airspace and walls between them that he was in the same state.

"Coyote's Two's completely out of her mind!"

"_Coyote One's no better – we're cleared to land on the hospital pad - "_

_Stacks, Stacks, Stacks!_

_Tamsin…_

She needed… he couldn't… they were lost and falling, out of control in the drift with no partner, no anchor, free-falling and floating. Voices urged her to breathe, not hyperventilate, it would be okay, they were almost there…

Thuds and lurches followed, and she tumbled out into the air on the ground, and was staggering towards him without having to look. They collided and fell, and _finally_, they were on the ground again.

"Christ," Stacker breathed into her neck, his big frame wrapped around her. They couldn't think, couldn't remember anything but their anchor, the only way not to fall was to hold on.

Someone tugged on Stacker's arm, and Tamsin nearly panicked again, thinking they were trying to take him. He let out an animal growl, lunging – and stopped himself just in time to not swing at an older woman who immediately had the sense to raise her hands and back off. Some inkling of awareness returned at that; he hadn't meant to attack anyone.

"I'm sorry," he croaked.

"It's all right," she said, voice gentle like he was an out-of-control boy. Drift memory whispered and shimmered on the edges of Tamsin's awareness; it wasn't the first time someone had talked to Stacker in that voice. But it had been a long time. He didn't like those memories. He was ashamed of them. Tamsin tightened her grip despite the cramps in her arms and hands from holding on so desperately. She had to keep him from getting lost in those blue dreams. That was her job, as it was his, to hold each other in the here and now. The stranger didn't touch them again, but beckoned. "Let's get you both inside. You can stay together, Rangers. Can you walk for me?"

Dazed, Tamsin nodded, and they stumbled along with their escorts out of the chaos.

Equilibrium and awareness returned… gradually. After a few hours, they had calmed enough to submit to the scans without going to pieces again over being separated into the machines. But they did fidget for every moment that they weren't able to feel each other physically.

Stacker murmured an anxious apology to the woman from the landing pad. "None necessary, Ranger Pentecost. Don't worry, I've worked with troops for a long time. I shouldn't have startled you."

"What's the word on the kaiju?"

Everyone promptly avoided their eyes. "It's… made landfall again," someone admitted. Tamsin's heart plummeted, and she felt Stacker's do the same. "Busan, South Korea. Romeo Blue should drop within the hour – you did a terrific job, Rangers!" Multiple voices chimed in to agree. Tamsin was having trouble meeting anyone's eyes just the same. "You were wonderful!"

_We should have been able to stop it._ She wasn't sure if that thought was her own or Stacker's – probably both.

Still, a few hours later, they had the chance to watch Romeo Blue finally dispatch the monster permanently. And they discovered one source of consolation from their frustrating day: proof that the shock of combat drift was _not _unique to Caitlin Lightcap, or even to Stacker and Tamsin.

Bruce and Trevin were even more experienced in combat than Stacker and Tamsin – but they were in as bad an emotional state as Stacker and Tamsin had been. Worse, Trevin was injured by shrapnel. Bruce was beyond all reason when the rescue crews got to them, and fought until one of the medics managed to sedate him. Then Trevin went berserk until he was under as well.

* * *

_November 23, 2015…  
Kodiak, Alaska…_

The debriefing was just… awkward. There were now three pairs of Jaeger pilots whose names were being praised throughout the adoring world, and a dozen more sets of trainee teams who gathered around them at the conference table and glared daggers at the Military Psychologists.

Caitlin and Sergio had been caught on camera sitting on Brawler's head waiting for their helicopter pickup – and some enterprising reporters had hired a lip-reader to find out what they'd talked about.

And so, the whole world "heard" Sergio D'onofrio's marriage proposal and Caitlin Lightcap's acceptance. The woman in Japan whom Stacker had nearly hit turned out to be one of the public relations reps, but not only did she not have a grudge against Stacker, but she ran interference for all three teams as the media and public fawned over them.

Within the Jaeger Program, no one could deny that of the three teams who'd fought Keunsango, Caitlin and Sergio had come out the other side the calmest. (Well, Caitlin had reportedly been giggling her head off when the recovery team got to them.) "'Doesn't have what it takes,' someone said?" Herc Hansen stage-whispered. "We need men trained in combat, eh?"

"Yeah, no veteran ever flips his shit," muttered Trevin Gage, but Kaori Jessop nudged him.

"That wasn't an invitation for you two to be down on yourselves," she scolded, and gave Stacker and Tamsin a pointed look for good measure.

Duc nodded. "Obviously it happens to everyone. Only a moron thinks PTSD is a fault."

"Drift shock," said Caitlin, no longer embarrassed by her own experiences. "My team is still sorting through all the brain scans from combat, now that we have a few more subjects. The chemistry levels after deactivating the handshake were similar in all six of us from first combat."

"Is there a way to treat it?" asked Secretary General Krieger.

Sasha Kaidanovsky rolled her eyes. "Of course: don't separate drift partners."

A few other proposed "therapies" were floated around, but in the end of the meeting, Stacker and Tamsin, Bruce and Trevin, and Caitlin and Sergio were in agreement that there was no better medicine for Jaeger pilots.

**~Fin~**

**Original Character Guide**

_PPDC Officers_

Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Gagnon: Canada's senior PPDC officer, transfer from the Canadian Air Force, he gave the order to deploy Brawler Yukon against Karloff. In his late 50s, he will be among those promoted to PPDC Marshall.

Air Vice Marshall Blake Ketteridge: Australia's senior PPDC officer, transfer from the RAAF. In his early 60s, a bit old-school in his attitudes about women and minorities in the military, he recruited a host of Australian officers to attempt drifting, but only Herc and Scott Hansen succeeded.

Colonel Sanae Okita: One of Japan's senior PPDC officers, still in command of several wings in the Japanese Air Force, her role has shifted to supporting the Jaegers in offensive actions against the kaiju. When the Nagasaki Shatterdome opened in 2016, she became the second-youngest commanding officer in the Jaeger Program (after a certain British Marshall).

Carolina Olivares: The then-unnamed public relations representative who almost ended up on the wrong end of Stacker's fist when he was in shock. Mexican-American, in her mid-60s, she and her family survived Trespasser's attack on San Francisco, and she came out of retirement to work for the PPDC.

_The Mark-1's (along with Stacker and Tamsin, Sasha and Aleksis Kaidanovsky, Duc and Kaori Jessop, Herc and Scott Hansen, and Bruce and Trevin Gage, we have...)_

Miguel Blanco and Maria Lopez: _Talon "Tango" Tasmania_: Argentinian Navy pilots, they were friends before enlisting in the PPDC and got into the habit of dancing for fun - and were discovered to be drift compatible. They would go on to be assigned to Australia's first Jaeger.

Min and Jing Li: _Horizon Brave_: China's first Jaeger pilots, siblings and air force officers in their early 30s, they helped shape the program that would become the Jaeger Academy and recruited many talented people into the program, including a certain set of triplets.

_The Mark-2's_

Carlos and Jordana Chen: _Puma Real_: Fraternal twins from Panama (also of Chinese descent), in their late 20s, they were commercial pilots when the Panamanian government asked them to attempt drifting after the Gage twins' success became known.

Caleb Mitchell and Tanisha Davis: Yankee Star: American Marines who once served in combat under Bruce Gage, they were recruited from officer school and ended up being the only military personnel to get through drift training. (They and their Jaeger are original characters, and a bio/short story is on my Tumblr, 3Fluffies.) Caleb is from rural Oklahoma, and Tanisha is from central Los Angeles. They're in their late 20s.


	3. A Revolution Worth Having

_**Author's Notes:**__ This chapter is really just a collection of moments from the Jaeger Program, and a war on a smaller scale between Stacker and Tamsin! It ended a bit more bittersweet than I'd planned on, but I hope everyone enjoys the dancing Jaegers! (If you noticed that we go backwards in the dates early in the chapter, that's because it is a flashback to Stacker's conversation with Trevin Gage about his fight with his brother.) My thanks for all the reviews and for everyone's patience at the delay between updates for this fic and _Aurora Borealis_. I'm hoping to update it later this weekend._

_**Canon Note**__: The title and theme of this chapter comes from _V For Vendetta_, and V's declaration that "A revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having."_

**Chapter Three: A Revolution Worth Having**

_December 21, 2015…  
Hong Kong, China…_

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Party pooper!"

"Lemming!"

"Stick in the mud!"

"Tamsin see, Tamsin do!"

"Tamsin, prettier-than-you, yes!"

"Stacker, right-bloody-hemisphere, no!"

"Always do what the lady says, Stacks," Duc Jessop admonished, but Stacker Pentecost stood his ground.

"We are NOT making Coyote dance!"

Tamsin was practically jumping up and down, looking halfway between throwing a punch at her partner or just throwing herself to the floor for a screaming tantrum. "All the cool kids are doing it!" she whined, pointing at Maria Lopez and Miguel Blanco.

The pilots of Talon Tasmania could barely sit upright, they were laughing so hard as Stacker shot them a ferocious glare. "This is all… your…bloody…fault."

Miguel Blanco fixed Stacker with a playfully threatening stare. "Three weeks until you formally launch, _Ranger_. If you fail to fulfill your duties, you forfeit the name Tango."

"Oooh!" Caitlin Lightcap made a "finger gun" at Stacker. "Shots fired!"

One of the public relations reps came over to the group of pilots, checking to make sure no reporters had slipped into the Personnel Only area. Mid-way through a month of Mark-1 launch festivities, only a month after Keunsango, the first "class" of Rangers were already exhausted, frazzled, and plummeting into collective insanity.

"Do I have to break up yet another brawl over here?!"

Sasha Kaidanovsky didn't miss a beat. "Pentecost started it. He's a troublemaker."

Stacker just sputtered as his fellows erupted into a chorus of agreement, too appalled by Tamsin's nagging and the other officers' teasing to remember that he felt awkward around Carolina Olivares. She was the woman on the Kitakyushu launch pad who he'd nearly hit while under the influence of drift shock – and with a week to go before Romeo Blue's launch, she'd been the one to get between Bruce and Trevin when the twins got into it. The woman had no fear.

As for the twins, they cringed in unison. Mrs. Olivares had torn three strips off both of them for getting into a physical fight, and they'd refused to tell anyone what it had been about.

Apart from Stacker, that is.

* * *

_November 30, 2015…  
Tokyo, Japan…_

He had the impression that Trevin hadn't even planned on approaching him, but while the medics were stitching up the gash on Bruce's chin, Trevin came diving into Stacker's room in their temporary quarters. Startled, Stacker had dropped the small photo album he carried everywhere.

"Shit, sorry! I thought – wrong room…" Trevin turned to go, then he and Stacker both heard the bellowed threats of Yan-Jie Lim and Fang Lao, the Chinese cousins whose quarters Bruce had been spending a lot of time in for the past few weeks. Trevin hesitated, then shut the door of Stacker's room, and Stacker didn't protest while Bruce's irate friends stormed past. (Stacker and Tamsin hadn't been sure whether Bruce was currently sharing a bed with one or both; the twins went through partners of both genders at a dizzying rate.)

"You're lucky I've never paired off with your brother," he informed Trevin lightly. The younger man groaned. "For someone with such a short attention span in relationships, he stays on remarkably good terms with his exes."

"Believe me, man, I know more about his boyfriends than I ever wanted to," Trevin sighed, leaning against the wall. He grinned sheepishly, then glanced down at the book Stacker had dropped – and spied the photograph of him, Tamsin, and Luna. They'd taken that photo on the beach in Spain, less than six months before K-Day. "She's pretty."

Stacker picked the album back up. "Yes, she was."

"Was it always Tamsin or did you have to beat the boys away with a stick?" Stacker smiled, but Trevin caught himself and added awkwardly, "I mean, not to intrude - "

He waved the younger man off. In their former positions, Stacker and Tamsin would hold the highest military rank, and the other former officers sometimes fell back on old deference, but… "You're the ranking Ranger here, if there's rank to apply."

"Meh, there's not, then. But I still don't mean to intrude if you don't want to discuss."

Most days, he wouldn't, but… "If I don't, I'll let you know." He flipped the page to one of a younger Luna, dressed up for her school formal dance. He had no idea who her date had been, or if she'd even had one. He'd been in training by then, and Luna still a ward of the state. "I worked out that her love life wasn't my business fairly early on – after I tried to shut her in the attic once or twice." Trevin laughed. "That didn't end well for me."

"Did you try to stop her from joining up?" Trevin blurted. Stacker looked at him in surprise, then put two and two together.

He had to smile. "So. Did you take exception to his second thoughts, or did he take exceptions to yours?"

Trevin grinned sheepishly. "Bruce and I've always been pretty gung ho… but he never saw me take a bad hit until Keunsango. He freaking…" He turned away, trying to hide his frustration. "He overreacted! And then he acts like I did something stupid and he wants out of having to watch my back!"

_Ouch._ No wonder they'd come to blows. In the twins' place, Stacker would have been lucky to escape with all his teeth after Luna vented her wrath… speaking of lessons learned the hard way. So he was willing enough to lend a fellow officer a sympathetic ear, now that he knew where their quarrel had come from. "You've never been in combat together before, have you?"

Trevin shook his head. "Wasn't allowed in the Army. We didn't think it'd be that bad. Come on, we're twenty-nine! We've been serving for ten years, we've both been in combat, we're freaking adults! He knew what this job was about!"

_God knows, Tamsin and I weren't prepared for how it would feel and we've both been in service nearly as long as you. _Even without injuries, they'd both been out of control. "Perhaps it was the drift shock," Stacker suggested.

"A month after the fact? Shit, I hope it doesn't last that long. I mean… it does feel different, Bruce and me now. I dunno if you could…" Trevin trailed off, eyes distant, and Stacker waited. "If we went back to regular Army, even, I dunno if I could deal with serving separately again," he admitted quietly.

Stacker wasn't surprised. "With Tamsin, it's the same," he said. "And I think to all the others. You and Bruce are twins, but drifting has changed us all. It's not a weakness," he added, anticipating what the American was really worried about. "Our military psychology does tend to lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to attitudes about stresses and combat reactions." He smiled ruefully. "And I admit, there was a time that I tried every means I could think of to change my sister's mind, or worse, simply prevent her from taking risks. It was wrong of me. Even… even now, I know that." Now it was his turn to look away.

"We lost a lot of good people, those first attacks," Trevin agreed. "Especially K-Day. It wasn't recklessness. Nobody could've predicted what we were dealing with."

Somehow, Trevin had gone from being the one seeking reassurance to the one offering it. But Stacker found that it didn't bother him.

Not long ago, it would have bothered him.

Maybe drifting had changed more than just his relationship with Tamsin.

* * *

_December 17, 2015…  
Hong Kong, China…_

The twins ended their squabble, and Romeo Blue launched with great fanfare on December 15. From there, the Mark-1 pilots flew to Hong Kong for the Horizon Brave festivities, and after zipping back and forth across the Pacific for the fourth time, all the pilots were collectively losing it.

That the Lis and the Jessops had jumped onto Miguel and Maria's bandwagon and made their Jaegers dance was only adding to the insanity. Stacker had elected not to participate on principle, much to Tamsin's fury.

Stacker could draw some small consolation that there were no cameras around the first time Talon Tasmania started dancing. A little victory jig was one thing, but Miguel and Maria took a step further.

A very... large... step... further.

In all fairness, it was the twins who started it. During the first test maneuvers with the Eastern Hemisphere Jaegers, the Westerners were all watching from Hong Kong's LOCCENT, and the twins started giving Miguel and Maria hard time. "_You guys are putting your feet all over the place_," said Bruce.

"_What the hell you trying to do, the Argentine tango in the Jaeger?_" demanded Trevin.

At that point Stacker was laughing too, but apparently Miguel took it as a challenge. "_We'll show you the Argentine tango_," he said.

There were several beats of silence over the comm. "Oh shit," said Stacker. "Don't you dare!"

But, there were other voices coming over the line. "_Go for it, Talon_," shouted Kaori Jessup.

"_This I want to see_," agreed Alexis.

Tamsin was giggling like mad. "You're not seriously thinking of making a Jaeger dance!"

But when Stacker looked up, Talon Tasmania was moving away from the other mechs. "Wait a minute," he protested. "Wait, you can't actually do that! "

Maria replied, "_Watch us_."

"_Someone put some music on the speakers_," Duc was saying.

"No, no!" Stacker protested. _The brass will have our heads!_

But then he heard a chorus of gasps, and then cheers from LOCCENT. When he looked up through the HUD screen, Talon was engaged in maneuvers that were definitely not any part of their newly invented Jaeger Bushido.

"_Nice footwork_," said someone.

"_Talon Tasmania_," shouted China's General Liang. "_Stop that right now!_"

With a flourish of Talon's arms, Miguel and Maria sketched a small bow. "Never challenging never challenge an Argentinian to a dancing contest," said Tamsin.

Stacker just groaned.

As he expected, Liang chewed them all out for improper use of multi-billion dollar equipment, endangering personnel, and waste of resources... and on the very next test run, Tacit Ronin did the chicken dance. "See what you started?!" Stacker fumed at Maria and Miguel.

Maria patted his head. "It will be the Rangers' little secret," she cooed as if she were his mother.

Famous last words.

* * *

_February 2016…_

Talon Tasmania was caught dancing on camera in early February, and made the cable and Internet news networks all over the world. Sydney's Vice Marshall Ketteridge nearly had a hernia, much to Tamsin's amusement. "He's just sour because the first crew assigned to his turf was Argentinian rather than Australian," she insisted. "If it'd been Herc and Scott making Lucky Seven dance, he'd just laugh and say 'boys will be boys.'"

"He has a point," Stacker insisted when they saw that Maria and Miguel had been demerited. "That's not the Macarena they're doing in that thing. All they need is one slip and Talon goes out of action right as we're heading into high alert."

"You are _such _a spoilsport, Stacker," huffed Kaori.

"Ohh, now that you mention it, the Macarena," murmured one of the twins.

"That was NOT meant to be a suggestion!"

"Too late, love," Tamsin hooted, winking at the twins.

Talon was nicknamed Tango Tasmania from then on, and even Stacker caught himself slipping up and calling her that from time to time.

Coyote was still in post-repair testing when the next kaiju, Digonek, headed for the North Pacific a week later, to Stacker and Tamsin's disappointment. It was whack-a-kaiju for nearly seventy-two hours, with the damned bogey popping up and the Jaegers being scrambled to meet it, only for the target to vanish again and pop up somewhere else. In the end, it was Talon who took it down in the Bering Sea as Cherno Alpha closed in.

_"If there was ever a time for a Jaeger to dance, this is it!_" Sasha announced.

Colonel Rabinov from Russian Command heaved a loud sigh. _"Just do not damage her any more than the kaiju did."_

Talon didn't dance in the aftermath of her victory... because Miguel and Maria were too busy become the second pair of Rangers to have a marriage proposal post-combat. The medics found their episode of drift shock to be less severe than some of the other pilots' had been.

"So what's the explanation: getting engaged or Jaeger-dancing?" crowed Duc Jessop.

"Sorry, Tam, we're not doing either," Stacker announced.

Tamsin shook her head. "I fear I have a cloud of bad luck over my head, and limited options to remove it. If he doesn't let me make Coyote dance, I'll have no choice but to take him to Las Vegas and get him really drunk."

* * *

_March 2016..._

There was no halting the momentum of the hottest new dance craze on Earth after that. "Jaeger Dancing" trended on Twitter and every other Internet outlet. The twins did the Macarena in Romeo Blue during the launch celebrations for Diablo Intercept, Puma Real, and Silver Lion.

Not to be outdone, Carlos and Jordana Chen arrived at the under-construction Panama Shatterdome and promptly made Puma dance salsa for a cheering throng. Yan-Jie and Fang were then determined to show off Silver Lion's cutting-edge design and status as the most maneuverable Jaeger built so far... and breakdancing ensued.

"They wanted to do the moonwalk, but just couldn't coax that much out of Lion's legs," Min Li reported. "We have high hopes for our Mark-3. It's expected to have even more torque."

"Poor Stacks. He'll stroke out if he hears Engineering is actually considering dance ability a design factor!" Caitlin chortled.

"Is he _still _holding out on Tamsin?!" demanded Trevin.

"It's a battle of wills for the ages," Min confirmed.

"Jesus, that man is hardcore," said Bruce. "Even Tanisha and Caleb are gonna do it in Yankee Star, and they're not exactly campus cut-ups!"

Sergio and Caitlin considered it a matter of pride that as soon as Brawler Yukon was refitted for his new service as the Jaeger Academy's "training mech," they made him dance (Numa Numa, since his lower body wasn't really built for fancy footwork). Lucky Seven did the Cabbage Patch, and Duc and Kaori reported that Tamsin was stomping around Tokyo making pissy-faces because she still couldn't get Stacker to give in.

It only got worse when the Kaidanovskys made Cherno Alpha headbang to their beloved Ukrainian hard house. Someone compiled all the videos taken of the Jaegers dancing and set it to Maroon Five's "Moves Like Jagger…" and Maroon Five promptly re-recorded a special version of the song with re-written lyrics entitled "Moves Like Jaeger." There were times that Caitlin was certain Stacker was finally going to crack… but curse that British stoicism, he held on.

"I think dancing could be an indicator of drift compatibility," said Maria during a vid conference among the pilots that spring. The first open-admission class of the Jaeger Academy was in progress, and less than fifty recruits had managed to make the first cut, and an even smaller portion of those were showing promise in the tests.

Stacker and Tamsin's reaction was predictable. "Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn," tutted Jing Li. (She and Min had put quite a few noses out of joint in the Chinese military by making Horizon Brave do Gangnam Style.)

They could all tell Stacker was relieved when the Academy Board got their attention back to the candidates who were heading towards the second cut for Class 2016-A. There was the pair of Japanese foster siblings, Hayase and Jiro Shindo, who had taught martial arts and helped Duc and Kaori with development of Jaeger Bushido. They'd tried out for the Academy at the Jessops' urging, but warned that neither Jiro nor his foster-sister had ever driven anything more complicated than a car. Even so, they were still in the running.

"I say we keep them on even if they don't make pilot," said Anjin Tessori, one of the newly-appointed "Fightmasters" for the Jaeger Program. "They have techniques we can use."

The second pair were Estonian Air Force pilots, Peter Lepp and Hedy Keres. They weren't as good with the Bushido as Jiro and Hayase, but were way out in front on the technical aspects of piloting. The Kaidanovskys liked them without even having been introduced yet, which boded well for them being assigned to Russia's Mark-2.

The third pair were Americans, not active-duty military but sons of Marines who'd spent years in family housing in Okinawa and the Phillipines. Stacker looked impressed with their simulator scores and background, until Caitlin, grinning wickedly, showed the active Rangers a clip of the Tunaris sparring, drilling... and dancing. Dance Dance Revolution was one of the Tunaris' favorite pastimes, and they were getting other candidates into it too.

"Wonderful. More happy feet," Stacker huffed.

"Staaaaacks..."

"No!"

The other Rangers roared with laughter.

* * *

_May 2016...  
Tokyo, Japan..._

After Onibaba, when Tamsin awoke in the Tokyo hospital with Stacker at her side, she mumbled, "Tol' you we shoulda made her dance."

He laughed then, and thought maybe when Coyote's repairs were finished, she might just talk him into it.

Two months later, when he and Tamsin were grounded and knew there would be no more deployments, he didn't think it was funny anymore. It was a long time before he could think it was funny again.

* * *

_Autumn 2016...  
The Jaeger Academy..._

All the up-and-coming pilots knew was that newly-promoted Marshall Pentecost had a stick up his ass the size of a giant redwood when it came to goofing off in a Jaeger. He tore a strip off the Tunaris when they made Coyote Tango do the Robot during their second test run in late 2016.

"What is his deal, man?!" Gunnar demanded of the Gage twins. "Has he always been such a hardass?"

Bruce and Trevin hemmed and hawed and dodged the issue. "Meh, he's a Brit. He's always been kind of high strung." By then, all the Mark-1 Rangers knew the real reason Tamsin was in Hawaii and Stacker would never pilot again, but they didn't go into detail.

* * *

_January 2017..._

As for the rest of Class 2016-A, Eden Assassin and Tidal Dragon set a new curve on the Jaeger-dancing phenomenon during a practice run in the Oshtosk Sea: synchronized swimming. (Sort-of.) Well, it was more like synchronized semi-submerged Jaeger Bushido for testing offshore maneuvers, but if it all looked suspiciously artistic... that was because Pete, Hedy, and the Shindos choreographed several minutes' worth of it in advance.

* * *

_February 2017..._

Miguel Blanco and Maria Lopez-Blanco had danced in Talon Tasmania whenever they felt like it even after Stacker Pentecost took over as commanding officer of the Lima Shatterdome. He growled and threatened and demerited them, and they just smirked at him like a couple of teenagers.

He consoled himself with the awareness that after the next engagement, Talon would be on her way back to Australia to stand guard over the opposite side of the ocean, and the Blancos' juvenile behavior would be Marshall Ketteridge's problem.

It was just another weight on his ever-growing scale of regrets after the battle with Vaulimi, that he'd been so cross with the Blancos so often over something as trivial as swiveling their hips in their Jaeger. Maybe he had been overreacting. They'd never overextended her or so much as popped a joint or blown a fuse no matter how dramatic the _Milonga_ had looked being performed by a skyscraper-sized mech.

None of his fellow Mark-1 pilots or fellow commanding officers were graceless enough to comment on it when he suggested to the Academy Board that dancing might be explored further as a means of establishing drift compatibility.

"It can't hurt," said Sergio D'onofrio. "We have several candidates from Central and South America regularly doing _capoeira_ and dancing together. Kennedy LaRue and Stephanie Lanphier were cheerleaders in high school, and we can bet good money that helped them learn to synch their movements. In fact, since their Mark-4 probably won't be ready for pilot testing for a few more months, they could probably help with the development in the meantime."

They did, and if Stacker felt a little nostalgic when he heard among the basic steps and maneuvers the instructors were developing was the basic Argentine Tango, nobody but Tamsin ever really caught on, and she never told on him.

* * *

_September 15, 2017…_

China raised the bar in Jaeger-dancing once again with the launch of Shaolin Rogue. The smallest, lightest, most maneuverable mech yet did the coffee grinder. The…bloody…coffee grinder.

Stacker heaved a drawn-out sigh as he and Tamsin watched from Hawaii. "They've been practicing, haven't they?"

"Mm-hmm!" She shot him a wicked grin. "I hear the rest of the Mark-3 pilots are taking this as a challenge."

If Mako hadn't been present, he'd have thudded his head against the wall. As it was, Mako was so delighted and tickled by Shaolin and his fellow Jaegers' various performance montages that Stacker was finding it extremely difficult to maintain his ill humor.

"I shudder to imagine how much further this is going."

* * *

_October 31, 2017…_

He really should have seen the next one coming.

Vulcan Specter's launch on Halloween 2017 was a celebratory event even by Jaeger launch standards. Yamarashi had been beaten on the outskirts of Los Angeles three weeks before, with far less of a death toll than most experts had feared if that city were targeted. The defeat had come at the hands of Gipsy Danger, Vulcan's classmate and the first of Class 2016-B. Australia now had a new mech to fill the gap left behind by Talon Tasmania, and Devi and Susanti Hassan had an ancestral connection to Indonesia and India, who had contributed to Vulcan's funding.

So the world was in a party mood, as were PPDC personnel, and Stacker supposed it stood to reason that the crews and strike troopers wanted to get in on the Jaeger dancing action.

Everything about the launch had a Halloween theme, but a few hours after the naming ceremony, instead of moving into position for the Jaeger to be lifted to her new home in Sydney, her crew suddenly gathered on the Brisbane Assembly Building tarmac.

Music began to play, and it took only a few beats for the whole world to recognize it. A commentator exclaimed, _"Are they doing what I think they're doing?!_"

Stacker dropped his face into his hands. "Oh _no._"

Tamsin actually squealed. "Oh, YES!"

"_THRILLER!_"

Ninety seconds, two-hundred-sixty-four crew and one Jaeger, millions of shrieking, enthralled fans, and a performance that would be etched into popular culture for all time. Herc and Scott Hansen looked a hair's breadth away from abandoning the formal gathering and running out onto the tarmac to join in. Sydney's Marshall Ketteridge couldn't seem to decide whether to cheer his crews on or have them all shot.

Stacker didn't blame him. On one hand, this was the most outrageous, ridiculous, pointless display yet, even more wasteful of resources and risky to the equipment and the crews. And it was bloody terrifying to see just how many of Michael Jackson's steps the Hassans had managed to coax out of their mech…

…but on the other hand, Mako was practically shrieking with delight as she watched. On the screen, Stacker could see young Chuck Hansen among a crowd of other crew's children. Damn, it was hard to resist smiling at the looks on their faces.

More montages followed, not just of Jaegers dancing, but of the public reactions all around the world. Thriller was enjoying yet another comeback as one of the most beloved performances of all time, and from Jakarta to Manila to Brisbane to Sydney, crowds were gathering to dance. Mako was giggling up a storm at those videos – some of the dancers being more successful than others – and she didn't even flinch when a group in Jaeger and kaiju costumes came on screen and finished their number by chasing each other around the dance floor somewhere in South Korea.

Even two years on, Tamsin was still trying to win him over. "If we can't enjoy being human, what's the point of it all?" she demanded.

He snorted. On this one damned point, he was not conceding. "At least it wasn't the moonwalk."

"Give them time, love. The Mark-4's are going to be digital, after all!"

"Oh, _no_."

Tamsin's laugh was downright evil. Well, it was Halloween.

* * *

_2018…_

Hydra Corinthian did the can-can, supported by a kick line of her crew and no less than three American football teams' companies of cheerleaders.

"This is getting out of hand!" Stacker insisted… half-heartedly. Someone had to say it.

Nova Hyperion and Mammoth Apostle toned it down… a little. Nova's pilots had taken to _capoeira_, so that was tame enough (at least it was a martial art) and Mammoth was just too big for any really elaborate maneuvers. Some of the reporters thought they were rehashing Thriller, only to be sharply informed by the crews that Mammoth was performing "The Dance of Joy…" or was it "The Dance of Honor?" Stacker couldn't remember, but among the nerdiest nerds in the Corps, Mammoth was nicknamed Numfar from then on.

Echo. Saber. Twerked.

Worse still, Stacker was in front of half a dozen cameras in the Lima Shatterdome when that hit the news, and couldn't even facepalm without running the risk of going viral. (His Rangers weren't so restrained, and Team Romeo, Team Diablo, Team Gipsy, and Team Amazon ended up in a pile on the officers' lounge floor, howling with laughter.)

He got a text from Tamsin a few minutes later: _Still breathing, Stacks?_

She'd Cc'd ever single Mark-1 pilot.

_I hate you all._

Sasha Kaidanovsky replied, _At least it was not the moonwalk, yes, Stacker?_

He fully expected to see Crimson Typhoon doing it, but the Wei triplets opted to keep China's tradition of breakdancing – and added some handstands to their repertoire.

* * *

_October 13, 2020…  
Sydney, Australia_…

Striker Eureka was the thirty-first Jaeger, the first Mark-5, and by then, Stacker knew in his heart of hearts, probably the last and only.

By the time Striker launched, trepidation over what kind of new horseplay the pilots and crews would come up with for that silly tradition had long since left him. He was occupied with far graver matters. The thought hadn't even occurred to him during the build-up to the launch. What had once been a joyous anticipation felt more like preparation for yet another siege, and not just from the kaiju.

Just after he arrived in Sydney, there was still a huge media presence whenever he was outdoors for test maneuvers… and when the music started, everyone quickly realized what was up.

"Oh no," Stacker murmured. But somehow he couldn't seem to not smile.

It was Billie Jean, and crew from Striker Eureka and Vulcan Specter alike simply dropped what they were doing for their obviously-pre-arranged flash mob to form and back up their Jaeger, who finally fulfilled the Rangers' greatest collective ambition of performing the moonwalk.

A reporter gushed as the Hansens returned to ground level to circulate among their admirers. Even the perpetually-cross Chuck couldn't seem to keep a grin off his face. _"The Chinese may be the gods of breakdance, but you Aussies are the kings of pop!_" an American reporter gushed.

Herc Hansen laughed. It had been a long time since Stacker had seen him so at ease either. With a wave at his Dome-mates, the Hassans, he replied, "_What can I say, Sydney Shatterdome's partial to Michael Jackson._"

* * *

_Operation Pitfall…  
July 2025…_

One of the memories that flitted between Chuck and Stackers' heads on their long plunge to the sea floor was of Tamsin, during one of his visits to Hawaii shortly after Striker Eureka had launched.

"It only took us thirty-one mechs and eight years to do the moonwalk," she crowed, launching back into their old squabble without missing a beat.

Stacker had just rolled his eyes. "I think we're very much past the time to make Jaegers dance, Tam."

She had dropped her glee, and for a moment, her eyes and the ghost drift that still lingered between them five years on had told him she was dead serious. "It will _always _be the time to dance, Stacker Pentecost."

He'd felt Chuck's smile next to him in the conn-pod. _It's a valid point, sir. That's why Dad and me decided to do it._

_You think so?_

It was a long walk to the jump point. And if Striker Eureka seemed to shuffle his feet just then, well, the footholds weren't so solid. Nobody in LOCCENT or Gipsy Danger noticed.

_There you are, Tam. Just the once. For luck._

It worked.

**~Fin~**

_**Coming Soon:** Next chapter will not end sad, I promise! Shatterdome Shenanigans! Prank wars! Pan-Pacific Competitions! Commanding officers trade reports and contemplate bloody murder at what Rangers and Jaeger crews get up to during downtime!_

**Original Character Guide**

_PPDC Officers_

Air Vice Marshall Blake Ketteridge: Australia's senior PPDC officer, transfer from the RAAF. In his early 60s, a bit old-school in his attitudes about women and minorities in the military, he recruited a host of Australian officers to attempt drifting, but only Herc and Scott Hansen succeeded.

Carolina Olivares: Romeo Blue's public relations representative who almost ended up on the wrong end of Stacker's fist when he was in shock. Mexican-American, in her mid-60s, she and her family survived Trespasser's attack on San Francisco, and she came out of retirement to work for the PPDC.

_The Mark-1's (along with Stacker and Tamsin, Sasha and Aleksis Kaidanovsky, Duc and Kaori Jessop, Herc and Scott Hansen, and Bruce and Trevin Gage, we have...)_

Miguel Blanco and Maria Lopez: _Talon "Tango" Tasmania_: Argentine Navy pilots, they were friends before enlisting in the PPDC and got into the habit of dancing for fun - and were discovered to be drift compatible. They would go on to be assigned to Australia's first Jaeger, and made Jaeger-dancing famous.

Min and Jing Li: _Horizon Brave_: China's first Jaeger pilots, siblings and air force officers in their early 30s, they helped shape the program that would become the Jaeger Academy and recruited many talented people into the program, including a certain set of triplets.

_The Mark-2's_

Yan-Jie Lim and Fang Lao: _Silver Lion_: Chinese air force pilots in their late 20s, first cousins, they were recruited by the Lis and would go on to pilot China's second Jaeger.

Jiro and Hayase Shindo: _Tidal Dragon_: Foster siblings from Nagasaki, Japanese martial arts teachers in their early 30s who helped develop Jaeger Bushido and then decided to take a stab at the Jaeger Academy's first open-admission class in early 2016. Succeeded at becoming pilots despite having never piloted anything more complicated than a car.

Peter Lepp and Hedy Keres: _Eden Assassin_: Estonian Air Force pilots in their late 20s, they became the third Ranger team to fall in love and marry after becoming pilots.

_Just a reminder, a guide to all the Jaegers in this series headcanon and the original characters associated with them can be found on my TUMBLR, 3Fluffies, under the tag "Generation K."_


	4. Disciplinary Reports From The Front Line

_**Author's Notes:** This chapter was a bit of an experiment, friends! I did an epistolary style chapter for a fic in the past (about ten years ago, in fact) and wanted to try it again. Hope you like! This chapter is primarily from the perspective of our long-suffering Commanding Officers as they struggle to prepare for kaiju attacks and keep a lid on Shatterdome Shenanigans!_

**Chapter Four: Disciplinary Reports From The Front Lines**

* * *

**PPDC INTERNAL MEMORANDUM**

Date: 2017-08-15  
Time: 14:44 hours  
To: All personnel, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
From: Tendo Choi, LOCCENT Support [Gipsy Danger]

Subject: Get out the Vote!

URGENT!

People Magazine is polling its readers for its Sexiest Jaeger Pilot Alive issue! Do your duty and vote for the Becket boys!

* * *

**PPDC INTERNAL MEMORANDUM**

Date: 2017-08-15  
Time: 15:02 hours  
To: All Personnel, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
From: Penelope Jefferson, Chief of Support [Yankee Star]

Subject: Re: Get out the Vote!

Sure, vote for the Ken dolls if you got no imagination. Or you could vote for Caleb Mitchell, the freckled red-headed man with the plan.

* * *

**PPDC INTERNAL MEMORANDUM**

Date: 2017-08-15  
Time: 16:22 hours  
To: All Personnel, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
From: Caleb Mitchell, Ranger [Yankee Star]

Subject: Re: Re: Get out the Vote!

My name is Caleb Mitchell and I approve that message.

PS – And don't forget to support Tanisha Davis for Sexiest Lady Ranger!

* * *

**PPDC INTERNAL MEMORANDUM**

Date: 2017-08-15  
Time: 16:34 hours  
To: All Personnel, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
From: Marshall Ana Ramirez, Commanding Office [Los Angeles Shatterdome]

Subject: Appropriate use of Base Memoranda

All officers and staff are reminded that official Internal Memoranda are not the appropriate means of communicating on non-official matters.

* * *

**PEOPLE MAGAZINE ONLINE**

_There's still time! Vote for your favorite heroes! Who's the Sexist Jaeger Pilot Alive?_

_Male:_

_Carlos Chen, Panama, Puma Real: 17%  
Raleigh Becket, USA, Gipsy Danger: 14%  
Bruce Gage, USA, Romeo Blue: 11%  
Trevin Gage, USA, Romeo Blue: 11%  
Yancy Becket, USA, Gipsy Danger: 10%  
Gunnar Tunari, Japan, Coyote Tango: 9%  
Duc Jessop, Japan, Tacit Ronin: 7%  
Alejandro Quispe, Peru, Solar Prophet: 4%  
Aleksander Kaidanovsky, Russia, Cherno Alpha: 3%  
Hercules Hansen, Australia, Lucky Seven: 3%  
Scott Hansen, Australia, Lucky Seven: 3%  
Vic Tunari, Japan, Coyote Tango: 2%  
Peter Lepp, Russia, Eden Assassin: 2%  
Sergio D'onofrio, USA, Brawler Yukon: 2%  
Felipe Jara, Chile, Diablo Intercept: 1%  
Benjamin Gonzalez, Chile, Diablo Intercept: 1%  
Yan-Jie Lim, China, Silver Lion: 1%  
Fang Lao, China, Silver Lion: 1%  
Caleb Mitchell, USA, Yankee Star: 1%  
Jiro Shindo, Japan, Tidal Dragon: 1%  
Min Li, China, Horizon Brave: 1%_

_Female: _

_Jordana Chen, Panama, Puma Real: 39%  
Hedy Keres, Russia, Eden Assassin: 19%  
Caitlin Lightcap, USA, Brawler Yukon: 14%  
Kaori Jessop, Japan, Tacit Ronin: 11%  
Hayase Shindo, Japan, Tidal Dragon: 6%  
Sunya Flores, Peru, Solar Prophet: 5%  
Alexsandra Kaidanovsky, Russia, Cherno Alpha: 2%  
Jing Li, China, Horizon Brave: 2%  
Tanisha Davis, USA, Yankee Star: 2%_

_The winners will be announced in People Magazine's Special Jaeger Program Edition on November 3!_

* * *

**PPDC INTERNAL MEMORANDUM**

Date: 2017-08-16  
Time: 13:25 hours  
To: All Personnel, All Bases  
From: Duc Jessop, Ranger [Tacit Ronin]

Subject: Outrageous!

THIS CANNOT STAND! PEOPLE MAGAZINE IS ENGAGED IN RIGGED VOTING! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE I'M BEHIND BOTH GAGES IN THE LOOKS POLLS! DAMN YOU AMERICANS! YOU CAN'T BE TRUSTED WITH ELECTIONS!

* * *

**PPDC INTERNAL MEMORANDUM**

Date: 2017-08-31  
Time: 11:23 hours  
To: All Personnel, All Bases  
From: All Commanding Officers

Subject: Proper Use of Official Communications

All personnel and staff are reminded that PPDC Internal Memoranda and PPDC Official Radio Channels are strictly for use in official capacity, NOT social messages.

* * *

**PPDC INTERNAL MEMORANDUM**

Date: 2017-09-01  
Time: 03:04 hours  
To: All Personnel, All Bases  
From: Victor Tunari, Ranger [Coyote Tango]

Subject: Fuck that noise!

Who are these blind morons who think my brother's better-looking than me?! I demand an investigation!

* * *

**DEMERIT**

Recipient: Tunari, Victor, Ranger [Coyote Tango]  
Issued By: Okita, Sanae, Colonel, Commanding Officer, Nagasaki Shatterdome  
Date Issued: 2017-09-01  
Time Issued: 08:31 hours

Reason(s):

1) Improper use of PPDC Official Communications

2) Improper language on PPDC Official Communications

* * *

**PPDC Press Release  
Date: 2017-09-15**

**Shaolin Rogue joins the ranks of China's defenders!**

The Hong Kong Shatterdome's proud fleet of Jaegers gained a new recruit today with the launch of Shaolin Rogue, the second Mark-3 Jaeger. Piloted by Fei-Yen Wang, one of China's first generation of female fighter pilots, and a member of her plane support crew, Huan Che, Shaolin Rogue represents the cutting edge of Jaeger Technology! He is smallest of humanity's army of metal giants, but also the lightest and most maneuverable.

* * *

**PPDC Press Release  
Date: 2017-10-21**

**Kaiju Yamarashi destroyed in spectacular team effort by USA's Gipsy Danger and Yankee Star!**

The two Jaegers assigned to the newly-opened Los Angeles Shatterdome marked their territory in a powerful blow against another kaiju invader this week! Yankee Star, America's Mark-2, and Gipsy Danger, America's Mark-3, exchanged fire and fought hand-to-hand with the monster across Terminal Island near Long Beach for nearly five hours, holding it back from the most populated metro area on the West Coast of the US and finally brought it down!

* * *

**_Ode to Yamarashi by Penelope Jefferson_**

_O Yamarashi  
Nasty stank four-eyed freak  
Baby shit yellow  
Kaiju shit green  
People shit brown  
Damn, you ugly!  
Thanks for trying, Gipsy, but…  
He don't look any prettier without his head_

**_Addendum by Yancy Becket_**

_Down to one eye  
Nope, still ugly  
Yankee: you missed one._

**_Addendum by Tanisha Davis_**

_Everyone's a critic_.

* * *

_PPDC Internal Network_

_BGage: Online  
TGage: Online  
RBecket: Online  
YBecket: Online  
TDavis: Online  
CMitchell: Online_

_BGage: WTF?! How the hell did Freckle-Face Mitchell jump up to third place in the Sexy Poll!?  
TGage: Seriously, who's been stuffing the ballot box down there?  
CMitchell: The ladies like a hero. That's why Babyface Becket just pulled three points ahead of Bedroom Eyes Chen.  
TDavis: Yancy and me are bringing up the rear for the LA Dome.  
YBecket: Haven't you heard? I'm the ugly one.  
BGage: Aww, you're Strawberry Blond, Yance!  
YBecket: If that teen mag article starts circulating again, I'm killing both of you.  
TDavis: What are they talking about, Bruce?  
TGage: Hang on, I'll send it  
YBecket: DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, TREVIN!  
TGage: _ [Attachment: 4 MB. Click to open.]  
_RBecket: FUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOU  
CMitchell: That's fucking awesome! We never saw this in the LA Dome! Strawberry and Sunshine Becket! We're writing this on their doors!  
YBecket: FUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOU  
TDavis: I'm sending this to People so they can reprint it._

* * *

**PPDC Press Release  
Date: 10-31-2017**

**The Jaeger Program gets spooky with the Halloween launch of Jaeger Vulcan Specter!**

The Sydney Shatterdome is host to a fiery ghost in the form of Mark-3 Vulcan Specter, piloted by Devi and Susanti Hassan! Designed for offshore and underwater combat against the kaiju, with some of the most sophisticated and deadly weapons developed, Vulcan joins Australia's Lucky Seven in defense of the Eastern and Southern Hemispheres!

* * *

_PPDC Internal Network_

_SPentecost: Online  
ARamirez: Online  
VGagnon: Online  
CQuijano: Online_

_VGagnon: Good news - People Magazine's Sexiest Ranger Edition comes out tomorrow.  
SPentecost: Thank God. If I saw one more 'vote for me' email, I was going to strangle someone.  
ARamirez: So on to official business of great import: who won?  
VGagnon: I can feel Stacker scowling at you from Lima. I got a tip: the Chen twins carried the day.  
CQuijano: Rejoice, Panama conquers!  
ARamirez: Damn, I thought my Raleigh had the men's poll wrapped up.  
CQuijano: It's Pavel Rabinov I'm worried about. He was miffed that Sasha Kaidanovsky never made it out of the single digits.  
SPentecost: I'm glad to hear we all have our priorities straight.  
ARamirez: Lighten up, Stacker. There are worse things the press could be doing. Remember the World War II map in LA's rec room?  
SPentecost: With the little Jaegers and all the kaiju strung up from the ceiling? Yes. I liked it.  
ARamirez: For Halloween, the crew started composing epitaphs for the kaiju. The next round of inappropriate Corps-wide communication will be obscene poetry.  
VGagnon: This will be good._

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Vincent Gagnon, Commanding Officer, Jaeger Academy/Anchorage Shatterdome  
From: Ana Ramirez, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
CC: Caitlin Lightcap; Sergio D'onofrio  
Date: 2017-11-14

Subject: Karloff

Found this on a tag around miniature Karloff's neck in the rec room. Thought you'd appreciate it:

_Looks like Groot fucked Lurch...  
Too goddamn ugly to live...  
Hi Brawler Yukon!_

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Ana Ramirez, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
From: Sergio D'onofrio  
CC: Caitlin Lightcap; Vincent Gagnon  
Date: 2017-11-14

Re: Karloff

LOL! Someone's a poet and don't know it!

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Sergio D'onofrio  
From: Ana Ramirez, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
CC: Caitlin Lightcap, Vincent Gagnon  
Date: 2017-11-14

Re: Re: Karloff

I think it was Yancy Becket. He has a thing for haiku. They're not always signed, but if it's freeform, it's probably Penelope Jefferson, Yankee Star's Support Chief.

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Commanding Officers, All Bases  
From: General He Liang, Commanding Officer, Hong Kong Shatterdome  
Date: 2017-12-06

Subject: I have done something foolish

I just gave the J-Tech crews permission to use the recycling materials to hold Robot Wars. I do not know what I was thinking.

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Commanding Officers, All Bases  
From: Marshall Blake Ketteridge, Commanding Officer, Sydney Shatterdome  
Date: 2017-12-06

Subject: Re: I have done something foolish

You blithering idiot. They'll dismantle your Dome by Christmas.

* * *

**PPDC INTERNAL MEMORANDUM  
PRIORITY: HIGH  
**

Date: 2017-12-07  
Time: 13:00 hours  
To: All Personnel, All Bases  
From: All Commanding Officers

Subject: Use of PPDC Materials and Equipment

All personnel and staff are reminded that use of any equipment or materials **NOT **registered and coded for recycling for any purpose unauthorized by the Commanding Officers _**CONSTITUTES THEFT AND WILL RESULT IN COURT MARTIAL**_.

Recreational activities are permitted only when using personal resources while off-duty.

* * *

_PPDC Internal Network_

_TChoi: Online  
BWang: Online  
SThou: Online_

_TChoi: Geez, did you catch the memo this afternoon? Yeah, we're totes planning on raiding the Jaegers for scrap metal.  
BWang: The Wei triplets wheedled General Liang into giving permission to hold Robot Wars on-base. I think someone panicked.  
TChoi: Seriously?! That's fucking awesome! We need to ask Gagnon to let us to do that!  
SThou: It will be harder for you in Anchorage. We can get anything in Hong Kong. So far Team Silver Lion, Team Horizon Brave, and Team Shaolin Rogue are all working on their entries, and Team Coyote Tango just challenged us to an international death match.  
TChoi: Good point. We're not exactly in a major tech center here on Kodiak Island.  
BWang: How is Gipsy Danger's repair work coming along?  
TChoi: She's looking good. Raleigh's almost done with physical therapy, so we've got our fingers crossed that we'll be back on active duty by the new year. How are things on Team Silver Lion? Are you guys getting a Mark-4 in China?  
SThou: We're not at liberty to say. ;-D  
TChoi: Oooh, hush-hush, I see how it is! I guess that means I can't see your Robot Wars blueprints either?  
BWang: Design your own war machines, you plagiarizing American spy!  
TChoi: LOL!_

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Commanding Officers, All Bases  
From: Marshall Ana Ramirez, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
Date: 2017-12-10

Subject: Robot Wars

I just gave permission. I should resign my command. I'm a fucking pushover.

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Commanding Officers, All Bases; Ana Ramirez  
From: General He Liang, Commanding Officer, Hong Kong Shatterdome  
Date: 2017-12-10

Subject: Re: Robot Wars

The Gages pulled the identical pout trick on you, didn't they? The Weis use it too.

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Commanding Officers, All Bases  
From: Colonel Pavel Rabinov, Commanding Officer, Vladivostok Shatterdome  
Date: 2017-12-11

Subject: Eden Assassin

We have a new problem, ladies and gentlemen. Lepp and Keres would like to be married after the next engagement, and President Putin is demanding to officiate in a public ceremony.

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Commanding Officers, All Bases; Colonel Pavel Rabinov  
From: Marshall Stacker Pentecost, Commanding Officer, Lima Shatterdome  
Date: 2017-12-11

Subject: Re: Eden Assassin

I suppose he would not be put off by their request for a private ceremony, or by pointing out that the Estonians are not exactly fond of his regime?

* * *

PPDC Internal Email  
To: All Commanding Officers, All Bases; Stacker Pentecost  
From: Colonel Pavel Rabinov, Commanding Officer, Vladivostok Shatterdome  
Date: 2017-12-11

Subject: Eden Assassin

Do you even have to ask? Sasha and Aleksis are quite protective of the young lovers. They are getting the idea that THEY may need to put the President off.

* * *

PPDC Internal Email  
To: All Commanding Officers, All Bases; Colonel Pavel Rabinov  
From: Marshall Stacker Pentecost, Commanding Officer, Lima Shatterdome  
Date: 2017-12-11

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Robot Wars

God help us all.

* * *

**_Entertainment News: Pacific's Sexiest Shatterdome!_**

_The Los Angeles Shatterdome is appropriately close to Hollywood with four of the most gorgeously photogenic Jaeger pilots in the world! As humanity celebrated the New Year and welcomed the first Mark-4 Jaeger to the PPDC fleet, Jaeger Gipsy Danger returned to her home turf of Los Angeles and brought her pilots, Raleigh and Yancy Becket, to stand guard with the beloved Gage twins over the west coast of the United States!_

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Duc Jessop; Kaori Jessop  
From: Ana Ramirez, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
CC: Yan-Jie Lim; Fang Lao

Date: 2018-01-03

Subject: Hammerjaw's Epitaph

_"Shoulda had a dental plan."_

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Ana Ramirez; Kaori Jessop  
From: Duc Jessop, Instructor, Jaeger Academy  
CC: Yan-Jie Lim; Fang Lao  
Date: 2018-01-03

Subject: Re: Hammerjaw's Epitaph

I love it! Succinct! What did they have for Digonek?

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Duc Jessop; Kaori Jessop  
From: Ana Ramirez, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
CC: Yan-Jie Lim; Fang Lao  
Date: 2018-01-03

Subject: Re: Re: Hammerjaw's Epitaph

They don't have one on him yet. I'll let our resident poetry society know there's a special request.

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Duc Jessop; Kaori Jessop  
From: Ana Ramirez, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
CC: Yan-Jie Lim; Fang Lao  
Date: 2018-01-04

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Hammerjaw's Epitaph

Be honored, you four. Team Gipsy and Team Romeo interrupted their poker tournament to host a Dome-wide poetry contest for this.

_Digonek liked to play hide-and-seek  
Till he popped up in town for a peek  
Team Ronin was waiting  
Team Tango was dating  
They danced their first dance on that freak_

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Ana Ramirez; Duc Jessop  
From: Yan-Jie Lim, Ranger [Silver Lion]  
CC: Fang Lao; Kaori Jessop  
Date: 2018-01-04

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hammerjaw's Epitaph

That's so bad it's good! How drunk were they?

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Yan-Jie Lim  
From: Ana Ramirez, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
CC: Fang Lao; Duc Jessop; Kaori Jessop  
Date: 2018-01-04

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hammerjaw's Epitaph

We're orange-level alert, so they were stone cold sober. This is what goes on in my Dome even without alcohol.

* * *

_PPDC Internal Network_

_ARamirez: Online  
SPentecost: Online  
VGagnon: Online  
DYamamoto: Online_

_SPentecost: The Gages and the Beckets in the same Dome? Are you out of your mind?  
VGagnon: The LA Dome is still standing and they've been there three days. It can't be that bad.  
ARamirez: I know they drive you crazy, Stacker, but I'm not afraid of rowdy officers.  
DYamamoto: Robot Wars turned out rather well despite the Tunaris' involvement.  
VGagnon: Nobody got court-martialed, I take it?  
DYamamoto: No. They kept their supplies strictly to the scrap materials, and actually cannibalized Bronze Spartan the night before the competition when Tidal Dragon needed wiring repair.  
ARamirez: Damn, I had money on him. Is that why he got an Honorable Mention?  
DYamamoto: Exactly – for sacrifice in the line of duty.  
VGagnon: Did they end up having it in LA?  
ARamirez: No, they seem to prefer gambling on Hot Wheel races. I gave them permission as long as they keep the things out of the restricted areas.  
VGagnon: I am shocked, shocked, to find out gambling is going on down there!  
ARamirez: I was shocked when a stream of remote controlled vehicles went flying down the corridor with miniature kaiju riding them, but if that's the worst they get up to, we'll be fine. I only worry about the videos with the obscene commentary ending up on YouTube.  
SPentecost: On your head be it, Ana._

* * *

**PPDC INTERNAL MEMORANDUM**

Date: 2017-01-05  
Time: 11:44 hours  
From: Marshall Ana Ramirez  
To: All Personnel, Los Angeles Shatterdome

Subject: Appropriate Use of Equipment

All personnel are reminded that forklifts and carts are NOT to be used for any purpose other than authorized movement of personnel and equipment. THIS INCLUDES RACING COMPETITIONS.

* * *

**DEMERIT**

Recipient(s): Gage, Trevin; Gage, Bruce; Becket, Yancy; Becket, Raleigh; Choi, Tendo  
Issued By: Ramirez, Ana, Marshall, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
Date Issued: 2018-01-09  
Time Issued: 09:45 hours

Reason(s):

1) Improper use of PPDC Equipment (i.e. Forklift Derby)

2) Misuse of PPDC Resources

3) Violation of Previous Order (Restriction against racing PPDC equipment, see Memorandum dated 2017-01-05)

* * *

_PPDC Internal Network_

_ARamirez: Online  
SPentecost: Online_

_SPentecost: There seems to be a new viral Ranger video on YouTube.  
ARamirez: Okay, you did warn me putting the Gages and Beckets together would be trouble.  
SPentecost: Did I hear it right? "Swaggering contest"?!  
ARamirez: That's how it started. The Beckets beat the Gages in the latest "Sexiest Jaeger Pilots" poll, and Team Gipsy and Team Romeo decided to hold a runway walking faceoff. I think someone was under the influence of America's Next Top Model.  
SPentecost: That sounds harmless. What happened?  
ARamirez: Team Romeo cheated.  
SPentecost: How the hell do they cheat at swaggering?  
ARamirez: Two words – trip wire.  
SPentecost: Bloody hell.  
ARamirez: Fuck my life._

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Trevin Gage, Ranger [Romeo Blue]; Bruce Gage, Ranger [Romeo Blue]  
From: Susanti Hassan, Ranger [Vulcan Specter]  
CC: Victor Tunari, Ranger; Gunnar Tunari, Ranger; Kennedy LaRue, Ranger; Stephanie Lanphier, Ranger; Raleigh Becket, Ranger; Yancy Becket, Ranger  
Date: 2018-01-12

Subject: Becket Synchronized Faceplant!

You're viral! It's trending on YouTube! Way to go, Gages! Epic!

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Personnel [Vulcan Specter]  
From: Tendo Choi, LOCCENT [Gipsy Danger]  
CC: All Personnel [Romeo Blue]; All Personnel [Gipsy Danger]; All Personnel [Hydra Corinthian]; All Personnel [Coyote Tango]  
Date: 2018-01-12

Subject: Re: Becket Synchronized Faceplant!

You may never get a reply from the Gages. Ramirez is still screaming at them.

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: Tendo Choi, LOCCENT [Gipsy Danger]  
From: Bruce Gage, Ranger [Romeo Blue]  
CC: All Personnel [Romeo Blue]; All Personnel [Gipsy Danger]; All Personnel [Hydra Corinthian]; All Personnel [Coyote Tango]; All Personnel [Vulcan Specter]  
Date: 2018-01-12

Subject: Re: Re: Becket Synchronized Faceplant!

Meh, she's overreacting. We put a gym mat down in front of the tripwire!

PS – Trev was yelling, "Boyband down! Boyband down!" 

* * *

PPDC Internal Email  
To: Bruce Gage, Ranger [Romeo Blue]; All Personnel [Vulcan Specter]  
From: Raleigh Becket, Ranger [Gipsy Danger]  
CC: All Personnel [Romeo Blue]; All Personnel [Gipsy Danger]; All Personnel [Hydra Corinthian]; All Personnel [Coyote Tango]  
Date: 2018-01-12

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Becket Synchronized Faceplant!

This means war.

* * *

**DEMERIT**

Issued To: Strike Troop Whiskey Gamma [Gipsy Danger]  
Issued By: Marshall Ana Ramirez, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
Date: 2017-01-20

Reason:

All members of Strike Troop Whiskey Gamma [12] admit to participating in and/or authorizing the following:

1) Carrying unauthorized materials aboard command chopper (water balloons containing pink paint and glitter);

2) Deviating from authorized flight path (flyover of Romeo Blue personnel)

3) Dropping objects upon personnel from chopper.

NOTE: Reason given was celebration of successful engagement vs. Ningyo. Explanation noted and demerit stands. Romeo Blue personnel allege explanation was trip wire incident on 01-15-2018. Commanding officer declined to issue further demerit on that basis.

* * *

**DEMERIT**

Issued To: Strike Troop Lager Two [Romeo Blue]  
Issued By: Marshall Ana Ramirez, Commanding Officer, Los Angeles Shatterdome  
Date: 2017-01-21

Reason:

Defacing of Jaeger [Gipsy Danger].

* * *

_PPDC Internal Network_

_SPentecost: Online  
ARamirez: Online_

_SPentecost: I know I'll regret asking, but what did they paint on Gipsy Danger?  
ARamirez: A neon purple Hello Kitty.  
ARamirez: On her ass.  
ARamirez: They called it a cutie mark.  
ARamirez: The next assignment schedule discussion is tonight's command vid conference, Stacker. If you say 'I told you so' EVEN ONCE, I'll propose reassigning all four of them to Lima.  
SPentecost: You wouldn't dare!_

* * *

**_ATTENTION LOS ANGELES SHATTERDOME. Please stand by for a general announcement:_**

"Whoever put fucking Justin Bieber posters all over our fucking quarters is going to BLEED, you little shits!"

_"__B-b-b-baby y-y-y-ain't seen n-n-nothin' yet!"_

"Who is this?! Gage – I don't care which one – BOTH of you in my office in five minutes! Beckets, you too! Turn the music off the intercom line!"

* * *

**_EXCLUSIVE: A SNEAK-PEEK INSIDE THE RANGERS' QUARTERS IN THE LOS ANGELES SHATTERDOME!  
_**_Apparently the Gages are Bronies!_

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Personnel [Vulcan Specter]  
From: Devi Hassan, Ranger [Vulcan Specter]  
CC: All Personnel [Romeo Blue]; All Personnel [Gipsy Danger]; All Personnel [Hydra Corinthian]; All Personnel [Coyote Tango]; Hercules Hansen, Ranger [Lucky Seven]  
Date: 2018-01-26

Subject: This is it, the apocalypse.

Note to all friends and colleagues: never start a prank war with the Gages OR the Beckets. They just racked up eleven collective demerits in five days. I think Ramirez is going to hang them all from their Jaegers.

* * *

**PPDC INTERNAL MEMORANDUM**

Date: 2018-02-13  
Time: 10:11 hours  
From: Colonel Pavel Rabinov, Commanding Officer, Vladivostok Shatterdome  
To: All Commanding Officers; All Public Relations Personnel

Subject: Lepp-Keres Wedding

Under orders from Secretary General Krieger and President Putin (without any regard for the wishes of bride or groom), President Putin will be officiating at the wedding of Rangers Lepp and Keres. Please submit draft press releases and RSVPs for your personnel as soon as possible.

PR: Please prepare formal invitations for the attached guest list.

* * *

PPDC Internal Email  
To: All Rangers  
From: Victor Tunari, Ranger [Coyote Tango]

Date: 2018-02-14

Subject: FW: PPDC Internal Memorandum Re: Lepp-Keres Wedding.

See attached. That's just wrong. Krieger even lowered the boom on just letting them elope! Nice to know he's got our backs! (Or not.)

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Rangers  
From: Kaori Jessop, K-Watch  
Date: 2018-02-14

Subject: Re: FW: PPDC Internal Memorandum Re: Lepp-Keres Wedding.

WTF?! Are they going to televise a bedding ceremony as well?

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Rangers  
From: Hercules Hansen, Ranger [Lucky Seven]  
Date: 2018-02-14

Subject: Re: Re: FW: PPDC Internal Memorandum Re: Lepp-Keres Wedding.

Only if it involves the damn brass pawning our asses to the highest bidder. So Colonel Rabinov needs an invitation template? How's this:

_Your fucking presence is cordially fucking requested to the fucking nuptials of Miss Hedy Keres and Mister Peter Lepp, nationals and officers of the sovereign nation of Estonia (in the eyes of said nation but not in the eyes of Vladimir Fucking Putin) who are to be united in holy fucking wedlock by the president of the regime who has fucked their country over any number of times and who was shooting down their comrades in arms less than a year before K-Day. But since President Vladimir Fucking Putin and his ass-kissers think the wedding of aforementioned Miss Keres and Mister Lepp is all about him and their backers, he has commandeered the Vladivostok Shatterdome and insisted on serving as the fucking officiant, against the wishes of the not-so-happy-as-they-ought-to-be couple._

_Please RSVP with the numbers of persons who will be attending and what order they can expect to line up to kiss Putin's ass. Gift to the bride and groom optional. Ass-kiss mandatory._

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Rangers  
From: Aleksis Kaidanovsky, Ranger [Cherno Alpha]  
Date: 2018-02-14

Subject: Re: Re: Re: FW: PPDC Internal Memorandum Re: Lepp-Keres Wedding.

Herc: I like it.

Rangers: Sadly, we cannot invite everyone, although Peter and Hedy would rather have their fellow Rangers in attendance than most of the individuals on the guest list. But I hope those of you who are invited will accept, as they will be glad to have your support. There will be lots of cameras, so please behave yourself.

* * *

PPDC Internal Email

To: All Rangers  
From: Duc Jessop, Instructor, Jaeger Academy  
Date: 2018-02-14

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: FW: PPDC Internal Memorandum Re: Lepp-Keres Wedding

Sasha: So I guess that means pantsing Putin is out of the question?

* * *

PPDC Internal Email  
To: All Rangers  
From: Stacker Pentecost, Commanding Officer, Lima Shatterdome  
CC: Duc Jessop, Ranger  
Date: 2018-02-14

Subject: FW: FW: FW: FW: (FW: PPDC Internal Memorandum Re: Eden Assassin Wedding.)

Yes.

* * *

**_PUTIN PUNKED!_**

_Russian President Vladimir Putin found himself the recipient of a spectacular prank at the much-anticipated wedding of Jaeger Eden Assassin's pilots Peter Lepp and Hedy Keres yesterday! Anonymous sources reported that the pilots, Estonian nationals, opposed the plan for Putin to officiate at the event, but were overruled. If it's true, somebody got him good! _

_As Putin took his place at the front of a crowd of dignitaries and ambassadors from around the globe, the Vladivostok Shatterdome's speakers were overridden, replacing the St. Petersburg Orchestra with a voiceover from the iconic wedding scene from the Princess Bride just as Putin began to speak:_

_"__Mawwiage. Mawwaiage is what bwings us togevvuer thoday!"_

_It was approximately eleven minutes before the ceremony could resume_.

[Click here for the video.]

* * *

PPDC Internal Network

RBecket: Online  
VTunari: Online  
SHassan: Online  
KLaRue: Online

_KLaRue: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!  
RBecket: That. Was. AWESOME!  
SHassan: It was you guys, wasn't it?  
VTunari: Jesus, everybody's pointing the finger at us!  
KLaRue: Steffie says because it was totally you.  
VTunari: IT WASN'T US!  
SHassan: Devi doesn't believe you.  
RBecket: Neither does Yancy. You guys have the electronics experience. Team Coyote won the Robot Wars. You could've overridden the Dome Com.  
VTunari: Seriously, it was not us. My hand to God, I wish it had been, but it wasn't! We were only there for the damn ceremony!  
KLaRue: Likely story. So who was it, then? Team Tidal Dragon? They can barely change a spark plug! The Bering Tigresses? The Kaidanovskys? Against their own President?  
RBecket: Yancy's busting a gut thinking about the Kaidanovskys pranking Vladimir Putin. I don't think they have a sense of humor, let alone with the President of Russia.  
SHassan: You're the prime suspects, Tunaris! If Bruce and Trevin had been there, I might buy it, but they were in LA with the Becket boys.  
RBecket: At least the wedding of the century got Ramirez off our backs.  
KLaRue: I hope it didn't wreck Peter and Hedy's day.  
VTunari: Are you kidding? They loved it! You can't see it on the vid, but they were laughing so hard they could barely say 'I do!'_

* * *

PPDC Internal Network

TSevier: Online  
SPentecost: Online

_TSevier: It was Sasha and Aleksis, wasn't it?  
SPentecost: Of course. Colonel Rabinov is claiming innocence. He was probably in on it.  
TSevier: You seem un-distressed, Stacks!  
SPentecost: I am utterly mortified and outraged.  
TSevier: Kaori is yelling that you must have known about it.  
SPentecost: Me, condone the pranking of a public official? I never! President Putin will have my full cooperation at identifying the perpetrators of such disrespect.  
TSevier: Kaori says it's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for.  
SPentecost: It was probably the Gages.  
TSevier: The Gages weren't there!  
SPentecost: Oh, I forgot._

**~Fin~**

**Original Character Guide** (Extended bios for the COs and other original characters are on my Tumblr, 3fluffies, under the tag Generation K. Link is in my profile.)

Commanding Officers

Anchorage Shatterdome/Jaeger Academy: PPDC Marshall Vincent Gagnon, Canadian, mid-50s, former Canadian Air Force

Vladivostok Shatterdome: Colonel Pavel Rabinov, Russian Army, late 50s

Hong Kong Shatterdome: General He Liang, Chinese Army, mid-60s

Los Angeles Shatterdome: PPDC Marshall Ana Ramirez, American, mid-40s, former US Army

Tokyo Shatterdome: Admiral Daichi Yamamoto, Japanese Navy, early 60s

Nagasaki Shatterdome: Colonel Sanae Okita, late 30s, Japanese Air Force

Sydney Shatterdome: PPDC Marshall Blake Ketteridge, former Australian Air Force, early 60s

Panama Shatterdome: PPDC Marshall Columbina Quijano, former Panamanian Public Forces, late 50s

Lima Shatterdome: PPDC Marshall Stacker Pentecost

Rangers

Tanisha Davis/Caleb Mitchell: Rangers of Yankee Star, America's Mark-2 Jaeger. Former US Marines in their late 20s.

Peter Lepp/Hedy Keres: Rangers of Eden Assassin, Russia's Mark-2 Jaeger. Estonian Air Force pilots in their late 20s who developed a romantic relationship and became engaged after becoming Rangers.

Devi/Susanti Hassan: Rangers of Vulcan Specter, Australia's Mark-3 Jaeger. Sisters, ages 26 and 24, first-generation daughters of Indonesian immigrants to Australia who graduated Jaeger Academy's Class 2016-B along with the Beckets, Kennedy LaRue, and Stephanie Lanphier.


	5. The Icebox Challenge

_**Author's Notes:**__ Thanks to everyone for the wonderful reviews! Please keep them coming! This chapter comes to you from the idea tossed out by one of my Tumblr readers! It takes place during the events of _Aurora Borealis_ after Gipsy Danger's first kill, but that isn't required reading. All you need to know about that fic canon is that Gipsy brought Yamarashi down with the help Yankee Star, America's Mark-2, and Raleigh suffered minor injuries: a sprained knee and Kaiju Blue inhalation. After the battle, Gipsy and Yankee and their crews were sent back to the Jaeger Assembly Facility in Kodiak, Alaska for repairs...just in time for winter, while Romeo Blue was reassigned to Los Angeles. Okay, one other item of fic canon: Raleigh was nearly trampled in the Jaeger Academy by then-candidate Ilisapie Flint, who is now on the cusp of launching as one of the pilots of Chrome Brutus. _

_**Geek Culture Note:**__ The long-winded announcement of Caitlin Lightcap's "titles" is a spoof from __A Song of Fire and Ice__/_Game of Thrones_, comparing Caitlin to Daenerys Targaryan aka Mother of Dragons. I firmly believe the PPDC is full of Huge Nerds, and since Caitlin invented the neural handshake that effectively created the Jaegers and also piloted Brawler Yukon, she is an object of reverence throughout the Jaeger Program. (Yancy's volunteer joke is a spoof from The Hunger Games.)  
_

_**Profanity Warning:** You'd cuss too if you jumped into a frozen lake in Alaska in December!_

**Chapter Five: The Icebox Challenge**

_PPDC Proving Grounds, Kodiak Island, Alaska…  
November 5, 2017…_

"So this is what it means to be heroes. An all-expenses-paid trip up to igloo-land for another winter," Yankee Star's Support Chief complained as the crews piled off cargo planes at the Jaeger Academy airstrip.

The temperature when the planes had left Los Angeles had been seventy-eight degrees. The temperature on Kodiak Island was… twelve. And it was snowing.

"Wow, that's low even by Alaska standards," Yancy muttered. "I hate it when we go below average."

"Not faaaair!" wailed Tendo.

Just to add insult to injury, they were greeted by the Gage twins and Team Romeo, all bundled up but also gleefully waving swimsuits and their warm-weather gear over their heads, singing at the top of their lungs as they waited to start loading up for Romeo Blue's transfer down to Los Angeles: "_I'm dreaming of a Whiiiite Christmas…_"

Tanisha and Penny, the Los Angeles natives, went stomping off the plane and began pelting Team Romeo with handfuls of slush.

All hell broke loose.

"You call those snowballs? Where you from, California?" A new group of challengers in the newly-issued Chrome Brutus and Hydra Corinthian uniforms came stampeding across the airstrip.

"Newbie attack! No fair! Hey! Hey!" The Gages found themselves overwhelmed by a flood of Canadians and Northwesterners. "We rank you - OOF!"

"Gage down! Hail Hydra!"

"Not the hair! Not the hair!" Tendo was staggering around with Kennedy LaRue on his back and Stephanie Lanphier on his waist, the two petite (but well-muscled) girls trying to unbalance him enough to drag him into the nearest slushy pond. "Traitors!"

Yancy Becket and Antwan Ferrier had taken up defensive positions on either side of the crutches-bound Raleigh (but weren't so far above it all not to occasionally shove people into cold wet mud if they got too close). And when a snowball crafted by experienced Alaskan hands pegged Zeke Amarok in the face, nobody was fooled by Yancy's innocent expression.

"Someone take out the Alaskans!"

"Run, Yance!" But Yancy couldn't decide whether to bolt or stand his ground next to his brother, and wavered just a little too long. Ilisapie careened into him and overbalanced them both into Raleigh.

"Oh, shit!"

"Stop, guys, stop! Man down!"

"Rals, you okay?!"

"Ohmygod, I'm so sorry!"

Crews and Rangers went scrambling over and crowded around the pile trying to untangle themselves on the bank of the retention pond, but to everyone's relief, the only sound coming from their convalescent youngest comrade was gasps of laughter. "That's the second time you've tackled me, Flint!"

Ilisapie managed to roll off him once she got Yancy off herself, and flopped onto the snow. "Damn, I was afraid you'd remember that!"

Yancy wiped muddy slush off his face and gave Ilisapie a mock-scowl. "That's right. We owe you double now, newbie!" He lunged for her, and the battle cries and cheers started up again, but this time the MPs decided enough was enough.

"Okay, okay, break it up over here!"

"Come on, you heard us - Becket, stand down!"

"Quit it before someone really does get hurt!"

"Awww, mooom, it's just a snowball fight," Bruce Gage whined.

"And we totally had them!" added Caleb Mitchell.

*cough* "Bullshit!" *cough*

"Airstrip, not playground. Run along, children, and let the grown-ups get their work done," ordered one of the security. Amid much groaning, the crews obeyed.

"Seriously, I'm so sorry," said Ilisapie, helping Raleigh get his crutches back under him and dusting him off. "Are you okay?"

To everyone's relief, the youngest Ranger was still laughing. "Yeah, no worries, you didn't get me. Not that we're not gonna give you hell for the rest of your career, but my knee's fine."

"You guys coming back up for any of the launches?" Zeke asked Team Romeo.

"Not sure," Trevin admitted. "Romeo's staying in LA until Gipsy and/or Yankee get out of the shop. The Fightmasters may want us to come pep-talk 2017-B's finalists closer to the end of the third term, but that'll just be short." He grinned at Team Yankee. "So you all can enjoy the fine Alaskan winter without us."

"Note to selves: nominate their asses for the Ice Bucket challenge," huffed Tanisha, whose teeth were already chattering.

"That was SO 2014! And that just means you'd have to do it up here!" pointed out Bruce.

Yancy laughed. "Just wait 'till the next freezing rain and walk outside. That should count."

* * *

The twins just kept on pushing their luck. They were lucky that their plane was leaving for Los Angeles in the morning, because in the mess hall that night, the crews were discussing plans for Chrome Brutus's launch ceremony in December. "Is Brawler Yukon still our champagne breaker for the new mech?" Tendo wanted to know.

"Always," said Jasper Schoenfeld, hand over his heart. "First and only, god save the king!"

"The Clunker and the Cave Troll: a love story," Bruce cooed.

Caitlin Lightcap and Ilisapie Flint let out simultaneous shrieks of outrage, and were only forestalled from hurling Swedish meatballs across the tables by one of the cafeteria workers roaring, "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT FOOD FIGHTING!"

"Later," Sergio growled, pointing at the twins.

"'_Do you wanna build a snowtwin?_'" sang someone.

"We are dumping your California asses in the coldest lake we can find," Zeke vowed.

"Hey, polar bear challenge!" exclaimed Raleigh. "Beats that piddly ice bucket challenge!"

Trevin pointed at him. "Alaskan or not, we'd last longer than your scrawny blond ass, Baby Becket!"

Raleigh locked eyes with him.

"_No_," said Yancy in chorus with the medics in attendance. Raleigh pouted, but Yancy poked him. "The last thing we need is you getting pneumonia after inhaling Kaiju Blue."

"That just means you'd have to represent Team Gipsy, Yancy-man!" Steffie pointed out.

Yancy munched on a roll, all cool unconcern. "I'm Alaskan too. Bring it."

Everyone looked at each other, then Ilisapie and Zeke smirked at the twins. "Can't let the Alaskans be the only ones," said Zeke. They spun on their bench to face each other and launched into rock-paper-scissors.

"Oh, here we go, here we go!"

They both had paper, rock, and scissors at the same time for the first six rounds, but finally, Zeke had scissors and Ilisapie had rock. "Aaah! Dammit!"

"It's Zeke Amarok representing Team Chrome!" bellowed Tendo. Antwan was already scribbling on a napkin. "We gotta bet on this! Make a bracket!"

"I'm on it, man, I'm on it!"

"I wanna do it!" Raleigh pouted, but Yancy stood firm.

"No dice. I volunteer as tribute!"

"Nice, Katniss!"

Kennedy and Stephanie exchanged a quick look, then Steffie raised her hand. "I volunteer for Team Hydra!"

"Aww, ain't she brave!"

"I'm from Seattle, she's from New Orleans. I got this."

Now the twins and Team Yankee and the D'onofrios were exchanging looks. Caleb got up and went digging around the utensils for a straw, then chopped one in half and brought it back. "Pick one, partner!"

Tanisha only hesitated a moment before making her grab - and wound up with a short one in her hand. "Ah, shit."

"Hope you brought your bathing suit, Tani," said Penny.

Tanisha sputtered, then pointed at Penny. "I ain't heard any of the crew volunteering! Why should it be just Rangers?"

"Oooh!"

"Not it!" Tendo exclaimed, but Team Gipsy broke into arguing, and the J-Techs and K-Science crowd were also breaking into huddles.

Dr. Tán was unfortunately (or fortunately) in the mess hall. "You are not _all _doing it. I am not nursing the entire population of Kodiak Island through hypothermia."

Bruce Gage grinned wickedly. "But some of us can if we pick 'em out?"

"I ain't heard you volunteering, Gage!"

The twins launched into rock-paper-scissors… and on their fifteenth tie, gave up and flipped a coin. Trevin lost and attempted to pout Bruce into volunteering, but Bruce refused. "I'll watch and videotape it."

"C.O. is gonna _kill _us!" said one of the J-Techs.

"Only if someone tells!" retorted Tendo.

"Put your money where your mouth is, LOCCENT!" ordered Penny Jefferson, and started counting off Yankee Star's crew department groups as their public relations rep tossed scraps of paper into a hat. But she soon found herself with one of the marked ballots. "Damn. Figures."

"Karma ahoy!" hooted Ilisapie, and began presiding over Chrome Brutus's crew selection.

Cady Spencer was the unlucky one out of Gipsy's LOCCENT officers, and Tendo hurled himself to the floor with a wail of, "THANK YOU, GOD!"

Antwan Ferrier lost the toss for Strike Troop Whiskey Gamma, and was informed that he was not permitted to pull rank and order one of the other crew to take his place. "I'm Jamaican!" he whined piteously. "I'll die!"

"Wah wah wah," said his fellow Personnel Coordinator, Hien Nguyen… and promptly drew the short straw for Troop Whiskey Alpha. "Shit."

"So when're we gonna do this thing? It's gotta be tomorrow morning if Team Romeo's going in," said Zeke.

"No," Dr. Tán informed them. A chorus of whining ensued. "You'll have to wait until Team Romeo's tributes get back, because nobody's going in the water without a monitor – that's my term. Take it or leave it."

"They always have to do training stuff since they're the only Mark-1 pilots on this continent," said Penny confidently. "We'll make 'em come back."

"I'm bringing you a bikini, Jefferson," Trevin vowed.

"Just don't forget your speedo!"

* * *

_December 2, 2017…_

Chrome Brutus was slated to be launched on December 15, the last of the Mark-3's. The Queen of England was going to be there, along with the Canadian Prime Minister and the US President and the usual slew of celebrities and dignitaries.

Duc Jessop had a grave, clandestine conversation with Marshall Gagnon. "The Gages are due back in Anchorage on Saturday, and the temperatures are expected to be hovering in the high teens."

"Oh dear."

"They're calling it The Icebox Challenge." Duc grinned at the Jaeger Academy's Commanding Officer. "Going to call it off?"

Gagnon heaved a put-upon sigh. "If I do, I'll be accused of catering to the unlucky souls who were actually nominated."

"Not to mention using your rank to dodge your obligation to participate," Duc added.

"Oh, so that's why you haven't volunteered on behalf of the instructors!"

"Of course! I know nothing about it, and I'll be outraged when I see the video… after. If Kaori finds out beforehand, she'll insist I go in on behalf of Tacit Ronin."

"Oh, and we just can't have that!"

* * *

_December 8, 2017…_

"Twenty bucks on Zeke – he's an outdoorsman _and _Canadian!"

"Nah, my money's on Yancy Becket – he's the Alaskan. Hey, Tendo, do we have a bet on who gives up first?"

"Hang on, hang on!" Tendo was scribbling notes on a pad rather than an electronic tablet (so there wouldn't be an electronic record trail if they were busted.) "Not yet, but good idea."

"Who's been whining the most?"

"Toss-up between Antwan Ferrier and Penny Jefferson – he's from Jamaica, she's from LA. Neither of 'em will make it more than ankle deep."

"Is there a penalty if they bail? How far in do they have to go?"

"No, no penalties," Dr. Tán ordered. "Having to walk out there in swimsuits while everyone points and laughs is enough." He eyed the public relations reps for the Jaegers whose crews were participating. "I'm counting on all of you to keep this from winding up on YouTube." He got five matching smirks and sighed loudly.

Carolina Olivares just refilled her coffee mug and said with grandmotherly innocence, "We'll be too busy trying to protect our Rangers' dignity. Steven. We know a lost cause when we see one."

Inter-departmental loyalty was running high as well. Priya Katwal had lost the toss to represent Engineering, and Jasper Schoenfeld was admonishing her to last longer than K-Science lest she shame J-Tech. "If you don't shut up, I'm dropping out and forcing you to step in for me," she fumed, with a fluffy coat wrapped around her swim suit.

Sergio D'onofrio was chivalrously supervising the assembly of thermal bottles full of alcohol-laden coffee and hot chocolate – but had declined to take his wife's place, because he wasn't _that _chivalrous. There were a lot of "if you really loved me, you'd volunteer" conversation going on at breakfast. The only one who'd actually tried to volunteer at the last minute was Raleigh (again) and Yancy still wasn't having it.

Dr. Tán bore him out, or Team Gipsy might have had a fight on their hands. "You got Blue in your lungs and you're still in physical therapy, son. This game isn't worth it."

"I'm almost done with therapy," Raleigh sulked.

"And you don't need to go derailing it just to show you've got balls," Tendo agreed, ruffling his hair. "Cheer up, Sunshine. You can help me narrate while we watch your brother freeze his balls off." Yancy flipped him off. He and most of the other contestants were alternating between pounding their chests and roaring their readiness and huddling in remorseful anticipation.

"Whose idea was this again?" grumbled Zeke.

"Baby Becket's, and we can't beat his ass because he's still convalescent," huffed Stephanie Lanphier.

"Actually, if you want to get technical, it was _my _loudmouth brother," said Trevin Gage. "And his ass we can beat."

"Awesome."

As the sun came up, the medics were putting vitals monitor patches under the ears of the participants and Tendo was gleefully giving weather reports every fifteen minutes. "The temperature is now a balmy _nine degrees_, with northeasterly wind at eight knots! The water temperature is a lovely forty-six degrees!"

"I can't believe I got out of bed at six a.m. for this," Yancy muttered.

It was Ilisapie's idea to make the men do a runway walk across the mess hall in their swim trunks and speedos, and even Yancy perked up enough to participate. The female contestants refused. "I am not taking this coat off until I absolutely have to," Caitlin announced. But she did whoop and catcall as Trevin Gage and Yancy Becket and Zeke Amarok strutted their stuff.

The male Rangers were miffed that the women voted Antwan Ferrier as looking the best in a Speedo, which was some consolation to the Jamaican Personnel Coordinator. "But he's also doing the most whining," Nicola Harris, one of his strike troopers, pointed out.

Antwan also had the distinction of being the biggest person out of the crews (hell, he was one of the biggest in the PPDC after Aleksis Kaidanovsky). He pointed at Nikki and threatened, "I could carry you in with me and nobody would be able to stop me, San Diego girl!"

"You may have to carry Tanisha in at this rate," snorted Caleb.

"Don't think I ain't strong enough to carry your ass in there," Tanisha retorted. She and Penny were forming the Los Angeles Huddle of Abject Terror at one table.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are at T-minus-thirty for the Icebox Challenge!" Tendo announced. "The odds are: Yancy Becket of Team Gipsy, two-to-one! Zeke Amarok of Team Chrome, three-to-two! Antwan Ferrier of Whiskey Gamma, forty-three-to-one."

"Man, that's just mean!" Antwan complained.

"Tanisha Davis of Team Yankee, thirty-to-one! Penny Jefferson of Yankee LOCCENT, thirty-five to one."

"Hey! Why's she got better odds than me?!"

"She's whining less. OW! Cady Spencer of Gipsy LOCCENT, sixteen-to-one! Priya Katwal of J-Tech, eleven-to-one! Caitlin Lightcap D'onofrio, first of her name, queen of the pons and the neural handshake and the First Jaegers - "

"WOOHOO!"

" – mother of mechs, lady of the Nine Shatterdomes - "

"Aw, yeaaaah!"

" – khaleesi of the great snow sea, the undented - "

_Grooooan!_

" – ass-kicker of kaiju! Nine to one!"

Giggling hysterically, Caitlin observed, "You all have such faith in me. I'll be surprised if I last thirty seconds."

"What are the odds on who screams the loudest, Tendo?" asked Raleigh.

"That'll be Steffie. She can shatter glass," Kennedy insisted.

"I think it'll be Trevin."

* * *

"I suppose it's too much to ask that you all keep the language to PG-rated?" asked Yankee Star's PR rep as the crews rode out to Lake Buskin in a convoy of trucks for a "fishing trip."

"Uh, duh!" said Steffie. "We're the ones about to freeze our asses off; we can cuss if we want to!"

"Cussing's the only way I'm going to make it through this," added Cady, huddled next to his fellow Seattleite.

The heaviest betting still had Yancy and Zeke as the favorites among the Rangers, and one of Team Chrome's LOCCENT crew who'd been raised on Baffin Island to win. "I can't decide if I'm offended on behalf of the girls or not," said Caitlin.

"Not," voted Tanisha. "Cause none of us girls are stupid enough to stay in the water after our appendages start falling off."

"It's the burden of being a man," intoned Trevin. "We gotta prove we have the biggest dick even if that means our dicks fall off in the process."

"At least he admits it."

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are at T-minus-one minute! Contestants, start disrobing!" Tendo bellowed.

"Oh shit oh shit ohshitshitshit what the fuck was I thinking?!" Steffie whimpered.

Dr. Tán and a group of medics (smugly glad that their role of keeping everyone alive had also exempted them from the contest) were testing their vitals monitors on their tablets, and assembled a crowd of volunteers at the water's edge armed with blankets and towels and the contestants' shoes. "I reserve the right to call a halt if anyone gets into trouble."

"Are we ready?!"

"Hang on – Raleigh, move, you'll get run over again!" Nikki and Brandon hauled him out of the path between the water and the trucks.

"Nobody's in that big a hurry to get in there," he snorted, and Brandon ruffled his hair.

"No, but they'll run you over getting back _out_!"

"Okay, good point." No longer on crutches, but with his arms full of Yancy's clothes and shoes, he stood in the huddle of fellow Rangers and Team Gipsy's crew and grinned at his brother's mournful expression visible from the truck window.

"OKAY, PPDC, TWENTY SECONDS! POLAR BEARS, START YOUR ENGINES!"

There was much squealing and cursing before many of the participants even got close to the water. Penny Jefferson almost turned and ran for it without even getting her feet wet, but Tanisha grabbed her and hauled her bodily along, yelling, "Team Yankee is NOT gonna be the first crew down!" But she bellowed at the laughing Bruce Gage, "I HATE YOU! YOU TOO, BECKET!"

_Splash!_ "OH MY GODDDD!"

Some were opting for the run-and-get-it-over-with-fast approach, others were inching along in abject agony, snarling at their crewmates who tried to urge them to pick up the pace.

"Shitshitshitohshit this is cold as FUCK!"

"Hey, no group efforts, that's cheating!" protested Bruce, seeing all four of Gipsy Danger's strike troop representatives forming a huddle of misery as they headed in up to their knees.

"Shaddup or you're coming in here too, Gage!" Antwan retorted. He had almost all of Team Gipsy under his arms.

"We're at one minute, and so far, nobody's given up!" Tendo was narrating to the crew filming the action. "Looks like Zeke Amarok, Yancy Becket, and three of Team Chrome have made it in up to their chests!"

"Dunno about this, man, Becket's turning blue!"

"Come on, Yance!"

"Almost there, Trev, almost there!"

"Hey, Steffie's like a foot shorter than those guys, she shouldn't have to go as deep as them!" Kennedy protested.

"Up to the chest is good, wherever the chest is," Dr. Tán agreed. "Hey, no splashing! Keep those monitors dry!"

Zeke was making high-pitched squeaking noises with his eyes squeezed shut. "Nobody's had a heart attack yet," said one of the medics.

Team Chrome and Team Hydra were definitely crowned the collective badasses, because a whole group from Gipsy Danger, Yankee Star, and Romeo Blue bailed out almost simultaneously: "I'm done, I'm done!" Antwan suddenly abandoned his crewmates when the water hit his belly button and went sloshing for shore with Penny Jefferson a step behind him.

Trevin Gage was the first Ranger to wimp out – well, technically, it was Caitlin Lightcap, but Trevin was the first active-duty Ranger, and being twice Caitlin's size, he definitely earned more shit-talk than she did for his performance. "Monterey falls to LA!" Caleb Mitchell bellowed from the shore. "You got this, Tani!"

But Tanisha gave up barely thirty seconds after Trevin with a screech of "FUCK THIS!" and whoops and cheers from the audience.

Hien Nguyen of Whiskey Alpha won the crews' vote of Most Hardcore Strike Trooper in her string bikini, and still had the presence of mind to smack Tendo upside the head when he announced "Chicken's done!" as she came out of the water.

"You done good, baby," Christian Warner assured her, bundling her in towels, and upon discovering someone had mislaid her shoes, simply scooped her off the frozen ground and carried her off in search of them.

Priya Katwal won the bragging right of oldest participant to outlast multiple whippersnappers, but once she was out, that was it for J-Tech. "Damn, is this really gonna come down to the Rangers?!"

Yancy, Stephanie, and Zeke were still holding out, all muttering a continuous stream of profanity and shooting death glares at each other (and their crewmates).

"I-can't-feel-my-toes!"

"I-can't-feel-my-balls!"

"Hate to tell ya, Chrome, but your balls fell off three minutes ago!"

Then Team Chrome's LOCCENT chief from Baffin Island gave up, much to Ilisapie's outrage. "Aw, come on, I was betting on you! You're from the farthest north of all!"

"And we know better!" the other woman shivered, diving into the waiting blankets. "I'm not getting hypothermia for this!"

"It's down to the Rangers!" Tendo bellowed.

Stephanie suddenly opened her eyes and shot an assessing look from Yancy to Zeke. "Don't give up, Steffie!" her crew shouted.

But the two men were still glowering at each other, and Stephanie spat, "Hell with it!" and went scrambling for the shallows.

"HYDRA'S OUT! HYDRA'S OUT!"

"Stephanie Lanphier is top woman!"

"N-nah, j-just th-third d-dumbest!" Stephanie squeaked as she came out of the water. "Socks, somebody gimme SOCKS!"

"YANCE! YANCE! YANCE! YANCE!"

"ZEKE! ZEKE! ZEKE! ZEKE!"

Dr. Tán was chuckling over his tablet. "Are they going to last much longer?" asked Jasper Schoenfeld, looking over his shoulder.

"I'll pull them out in a couple more minutes, but I think one of them's going to crack first." The two men were shivering up a storm, growling at each other and glaring daggers at their cheering crews.

Zeke shot an assessing look at his opponent, only to find Yancy giving him something like a grin (actually it was more like a grimace) indicating he was holding out. "Noooo!" shrieked Ilisapie, but it was too late.

"I'm done!" Zeke fled, and Team Gipsy erupted into roars of triumph.

Yancy attempted to pump his fists, but he was shivering so hard that it looked kind of feeble. He and Zeke both fell in almost over their head attempting to climb back onto the shore, but he was grinning over his crews' heads at the disgruntled Team Chrome as Raleigh and Carolina dried him off.

"And that is how you prove you're a badass in Alaska!" Raleigh crowed, helping Yancy back into his clothes.

Yancy looked up from hopping around into his shoes to take note of which crew were already huddled back on the trucks. "W-well, we know who won't be deployed north of the Canadian border!"

"SHADDUP, polar bear!" yelled Tanisha from somewhere in the pile.

"You walk all the way back to base, then! We'll send you a dog sled!" Steffie added.

Laughing at them, Dr. Tán and the medics herded everyone back onto the trucks. "Come on, come on, back to base before somebody really does get hypothermia. You can do your drinking and bragging indoors."

"That's a plan," Sergio agreed, with Caitlin wrapped around his waist under his outer coat.

"I think I'm gonna get pneumonia," she groaned. "I still can't feel my nose!"

"Can you feel your balls yet, Yance?" asked Nikki as Team Gipsy made way for their triumphant Ranger and piled on top of him.

"I fink I left dem in da lake!" Yancy squeaked in the highest pitch he could manage.

* * *

Marshall Gagnon and Duc Jessop were waiting when they returned to Kodiak. "I should demerit every one of you," said Gagnon sternly.

"Sorry, sir," said Dr. Tán. (They all knew he wasn't.)

Gagnon ran his eyes over the ten Rangers, taking note of the still-sniffling five who'd gone into the water. "The entire base is going to be swarming with media in a week for the launch of Chrome Brutus, and by the new year, we're going to be on alert for the next attack. If any _one _of you gets sick, your Jaeger is grounded until you recover. Understand that?"

"Yes, sir," mumbled Zeke and Yancy, now a little shamefaced.

"You're allowed to relax on off time, but there are limits when it comes to putting yourself at risk of anything that might render you unfit for duty. These videos are already getting popular on YouTube, but if your shenanigans cause you or any of your crew to be incapacitated, the joke is over."

"It was my idea, sir," said Bruce Gage quickly, stepping forward.

"_And _mine," Raleigh insisted.

Gagnon held up a hand to forestall debate over who should take the fall. "No one's getting reprimanded - this time. I'm saying consider the outcome of your games before you start them from now on. Dismissed."

The group slunk out, and he let himself smirk at Duc. "I suppose I'd have to confess to having known about it if you were handing out demerits," Duc remarked.

"And give one to myself." Now Dr. Tán chuckled, and Gagnon waggled a finger at him. "As for you, you'll get your own punishment depending on how many of them come down with colds."

Tán groaned, and Duc added, "Wait 'till the whining starts."

* * *

_Mid-December 2017…_

Their prediction was accurate. The outbreak of stuffy heads and bronchitis that swept through the Anchorage base probably wasn't scientifically attributable to the Icebox Challenge... but the circumstantial evidence was there.

Zeke and Ilisapie were doing promotional appearances at local schools in the week leading up to Chrome Brutus's launch, and Zeke steadfastly insisted that he must have picked something up from hugging so many kids rather than from standing in frigid lake water for seven minutes.

Ilisapie alternated between fussing over him and making fun of him, and amid all the pomp and circumstance of Chrome's launch, Zeke had to worry desperately about keeping Kleenex handy and fearing he might sneeze on the Queen.

He and Yancy swung back and forth from being playfully resentful to buddies in misery, since Yancy too had caught the Polar Bear Plague. At first it was just funny, with Raleigh prancing around the halls singing, "Yancy the red-nosed Ranger," and Yancy threatening to sneeze on him.

Then the sniffling and sneezing and playful whining gave way to a much deeper cough, and Raleigh stopped laughing at it.

"_And_ now we pay the price," Dr. Tán sighed, resigned to eating crow when first Zeke and Ilisapie, then the Beckets turned up in the infirmary.

"It's not that bad," Yancy insisted hoarsely to his anxious brother.

"So far nobody's come down with full-blown pneumonia, but I'm not taking any chances," Dr. Tán informed them. "You have a fever, you're here overnight." Yancy and Zeke groaned in unison, but joined the small army of J-Techs and support crews, some of whom hadn't been at the plunge party. "Ah-ah." Tán waylaid Raleigh and Ilisapie when they would have stayed at their respective partners' sides. "You two are healthy and I want to keep you that way."

"Aw, come on," Ilisapie protested, but Raleigh bristled.

"Wait a second, you can't kick me out!"

"Uh-oh." Antwan and Tendo turned from their discussions with some of Gipsy's other ailing crew and came hurrying over.

Raleigh shook off their placating hands and started to snap over Tán's efforts to explain: "Raleigh, with a fever he could be contagious and you're still at high risk - "

"For Christ's sake, we share quarters! If he's contagious I've got it already, I'm not - "

"Rals!" Yancy was obviously feeling like crap, but not immobile by a long shot. He managed to get a shoulder in between Tán and his irate brother. "Rals. Stop. Stop it. I'm not in trouble; at worst, it's the flu and I'll be out in a couple days." He visibly restrained himself from pulling Raleigh into his arms, and Raleigh seemed almost twitchy from the effort of trying not to reach for him.

"He'll be fine," Carolina confirmed. She was hoarse and sneezy herself, but even in the infirmary, she was mostly just playing mom to the younger crew. "If it gets any worse, you'll know, but you're still the one at high risk."

"It's been almost two months since I had Blue Bronchitis," Raleigh muttered, sulky.

"And if you get sick again, you'll take twice as long to recover as any of us," Zeke insisted. He smiled (taking a quick break to turn around and sneeze loud enough to shake the rafters) then turned back and gestured to Ilisapie. "I'll make you a deal: you watch over mine, I'll watch over yours."

"Yeah, someone's gotta keep an eye on the newest Rangers," agreed Tendo. "Just don't forget, Yancy won the Icebox Challenge."

"Bzuh, I'm not forgetting." Yancy mock-huffed, and gave Raleigh's hair a quick ruffle. "Take it easy, kiddo. Go spend the night somewhere more fun than the infirmary. I'm good," he insisted, lowering his already-hoarse voice and daring to step a little closer to his brother. "It's okay." Raleigh sighed, not speaking, but they could see he'd relented. Yancy looked from him to Ilisapie. "You, newbie, watch my twerp 'till I'm back."

"You were the dumbass who stayed in the water longer than anybody else," Raleigh replied, but he was grinning again.

"You hear this little shit? He gets me into stuff and then gives me a hard time!" Yancy said in an exaggerated whine. "Go on, shoo. Out of the quarantine zone."

Ilisapie tugged Raleigh's elbow. "Come on, Gipsy Two. A Ranger with a kill shouldn't be looking like a kicked puppy."

"Get him drunk," ordered Yancy.

"Indoors," Tán modified it, and they all laughed.

But with that conversation, Raleigh let Lissa and his healthy crewmates coax him out of the infirmary, though the mournful glances he kept throwing over his shoulder at Yancy tugged at Ilisapie's heartstrings. It should have been against that law for a kid that cute to be sad. Along with being under orders from her senior Ranger, she'd have to get Raleigh Becket smiling again whatever it took.

_Down, Lissa. He's too young for you._

**_To be continued..._**

**_Coming Soon: _**_The next installment of this tale is a sequel of sorts because this chapter got really long. Ilisapie and the crews console a worried Raleigh, and Ilisapie tries to keep her mind out of the gutter, and we learn how other Rangers navigate the treacherous world of sexuality, physical attraction, and publicity in __**Chapter Six: Love in the Time of Shatterdomes. **__ (Pun absolutely intended.)_

**PLEASE don't forget to review!**

**Original Character ****Guide**

Tanisha Davis/Caleb Mitchell: Pilots of Yankee Star, America's Mark-2 Jaeger, late 20s, former US Marines who once served under Bruce Gage before the Kaiju War. Tanisha is African-American from south central Los Angeles, Caleb is from small-town Oklahoma.

Penelope (Penny) Jefferson: Yankee Star's support chief, African-American from Los Angeles, formerly Tanisha and Caleb's superior officer, mid-30s.

Antwan Ferrier: one of Gipsy Danger's strike troop personnel coordinators, Jamaican national, late 30s, one of the biggest men in the Corps (after Aleksis Kaidanovsky, anyway)

Cady Spencer: one of Gipsy Danger's LOCCENT officers who serves with Tendo Choi, Filipino-American from Seattle, late 20s.

Christian Warner: Drivesuit technician with Gipsy Danger, African-American from Atlanta, Georgia, late 20s.

Hien Nguyen: another of Gipsy's strike troop personnel coordinators, Vietnamese-American in her late 20s.

Nicola (Nikki) Harris: one of Gipsy Danger's strike troopers, black/Latina from San Diego, age 19.

Brandon Pines: one of Gipsy Danger's support chopper pilots, Air Force transfer in his early 30s from California.

Dr. Priya Katwal: J-Tech senior Engineer, formerly NASA, now designs conn-pod support systems, Indian, late 50s.

Carolina Olivares: Gipsy Danger's public relations representative, Mexican-American in her mid-60s, team Mom

Dr. Steven Tán: Chief Medical Officer of the Jaeger Academy and Anchorage Shatterdome, late 20s, Chinese-American

Marshall Vincent Gagnon: commanding officer of the Jaeger Academy and Anchorage Shatterdome, late 50s, formerly Canadian Air Force


	6. Love In The Time Of Shatterdomes

_**Author's Notes:**__ Here it is, one of the most difficult chapters I've tried to write so far! Sexuality and love are complex enough, to say nothing about navigating sex and love when you're living under worldwide scrutiny for your looks and relationships! _

_**TRIGGER WARNING**__: This story does touch on themes of slut-shaming and body shaming as well as a conflicted character trying to decide how or if to act on an attraction. Obviously, Ilisapie is not always a reliable narrator in the way she perceives herself, her looks, and her choices._

_**Canon Note:**__ For those who recall the montage recap of the earlier years of the Jaeger Program, Fei-Hen Wang is the name I have given the beautiful Chinese woman clearly posed for the propaganda that Raleigh is referencing during his narration. Her name and her status as pilot of Shaolin Rogue beginning in 2017 is purely headcanon, as is the notion that Chrome Brutus was a Jaeger built so big, clunky, and top-heavy that he has nicknames such as the Hulk or the Cave Troll - and refer to him as the latter at risk of ass-beating by Ilisapie and Zeke. Just a reminder that bios of the mechs themselves as well as their crews can be found on my tumblr under the tag "Generation K."_

_**Trivia:**__ The title and first line of this story are plays on two very famous books. Can anyone spot them?_

**Chapter Six: Love In The Time Of Shatterdomes**

_Summer 2017..._

Ilisapie Flint was not beautiful. She wasn't even particularly pretty. A lot of the media had a problem with that. Hell, some of the personnel within the PPDC had a problem with it.

During the initial review of Ilisapie and Zeke's proposed assignment to Chrome Brutus, a couple of the senior brass started hemming and hawing despite their excellent scores in the simulator and favorable physical and psychological profiles. "Well... do you think Miss Flint really presents the image of the PPDC? There is the public relations angle to consider." Even one or two of the other commanding officers nodded.

Caitlin nearly blew a gasket. Marshall Gagnon curtly redirected the discussion, pointing out Ilisapie's sterling record as a national guard pilot and her experience supporting Brawler Yukon as a spotter through no less than three engagements, and the subject was mercifully dropped.

During launch prep for Gipsy Danger, Yankee Star's crew came and went from Anchorage with them, and Tanisha Davis sidled over to Ilisapie at one point. "You got the 'image' thing, I hear."

"You too?"

"Yeah." Tanisha's snort was more bitter resignation than any active anger. Lissa could understand that. "Old white guys, they all got this idea in their head about the image female officers are supposed to have. It took 'em ten weeks to sign off on Caleb and me."

"I remember." She hadn't been a ranking officer then, just a support pilot, but Caitlin had stormed through the base in a rage, frequently commiserating/conspiring with the Gages.

_"Where the fuck do they get off making looks a factor?"_

_"It's not just looks, it's race. It's 2015, and some of our military still have a problem with a black woman and a white man standing next to each other."_

Tanisha's short hair was microbraided on top of her head, a flattering hairstyle for the shape of her face, but also easy to deal with when you were constantly wearing helmets and pons caps. "Did they try and give you a makeover too?" Lissa asked her.

She got another knowing snort. "Yeah. Like squid caps and circuitry helmets ain't enough, they wanted me to wear a weave for launch."

"Holy shit. That's shameless. Have you met Fei-Yen? She's in my class, just got assigned to Shaolin Rogue."

"Uh-uh. She get it too?" Tanisha sounded surprised. Fei-Yen was a pretty woman, far more model material than Ilisapie or Tanisha. Being in the same graduating class as her, Ilisapie had gotten wind of some of the demands placed even on the good-looking ones.

"The Chinese brass won't let her cut her hair. She wanted it like mine, to the chin so the helmet can just go over it. They _did _assign her a make-up artist. She can't go anywhere over there without her face on and her hair done."

"Shit. Maybe there's worse things than being 'the ugly ones.' Fox News says I need to lose weight, they probably do special reports if she gains an ounce."

"Exactly. They called me fat too. Well, not exactly 'fat,' something like, 'weeelll, maybe we should have the physical fitness assessment re-done, are we sure Miss Flint's in shape? She seems rather... heavy for piloting.'" She gave the American woman a wry smirk. "I thought Zeke was gonna go across the conference table."

Nobody who'd spent any time in the gym, the Kwoon, or on the training fields with Ilisapie or Tanisha would suggest that either woman was in less than peak physical condition. However, in the eyes of the world's peanut gallery, women like them were "heavy" because they didn't have the skinny physique of a supermodel. The idea that some women had fuller figures than others but still were in good shape never occurred to the middle-aged white men who made all the decisions about "the PPDC's image," it seemed.

"Caleb got it too even before he came out. He was the right sex, right color, but the brass didn't think a guy covered in freckles with a thick country accent fit the profile of the 'all-American boy' either, not like Bruce and Trevin. Brady Harris – our PR guy – he spends all his time getting them off our back, more than the paparazzi even, telling 'em I'm not getting a fucking makeover and Caleb don't need to be air brushed." Tanisha tilted her head thoughtfully. "Fei-Yen's partner gets shit, I bet. Not handsome enough."

Ilisapie nodded. "Huan's brilliant, tough, sweet. He was with her from the start in 2008, when she was fighter pilot. She loves him. The brass doesn't want it known that they're involved; they think she should be with a male model or starring in The Bachelorette."

* * *

_Mid-December 2017…_

The weather really was turning oppressive as Christmas season got closer in Alaska. Many of their crewmates were down for the count in the infirmary with Polar Bear Plague, as it came to be called. A small gathering in the gym courtyard with grills converted into barbecue/bonfire hybrids were all the excitement the healthy personnel were prepared to handle. The mess hall staff obligingly cooked up chickens soup and apples and s'mores in all their incarnations. They even managed to wheedle Marshall Gagnon that an abundance of Pumpkin Ale and hard cider and Irish Whiskey coffee wouldn't break Academy protocols on alcohol consumption.

"Here's to the newest of our proud fleet of Jaegers, Chrome Brutus!" Tendo announced, and everyone happily joined the toast, followed by a rousing and severely off-key rendition of _O Canada._

Raleigh Becket was mellow at first, with his crew stuffing him with food and feeding him spiced cider that had a subtle but powerful kick. It made Ilisapie feel all warm and fuzzy to see the kid sprawled on the floor in a pile of his crew, content and happy.

But there were subtleties that she caught in the youngest Ranger's bearing, and from the looks his crew were shooting him and her, she knew they were catching it too. Raleigh was only a few months out of combat and injury, and word on the street was that it had been a major incident of drift shock after Yamarashi. Ilisapie had witnessed drift shock in its first documented cases; first with Caitlin and Sergio, then Pentecost and Sevier, then the Gage twins. Every time a team went into battle, they found things had changed.

Raleigh was twitchy, anxious and worried about his brother back in the infirmary. Lissa was fretful for Zeke's well-being too, but the Psychs had warned her: after combat, it would be different. It was always that way; all the pilots said nothing was ever the same after combat drift. With Raleigh, it wasn't so much that he was worried, just that he... wanted Yancy. He was fidgety at knowing his brother was somewhere he wasn't allowed to be. Lissa remembered the way Yancy had tried to reach for him, just to hug him and reassure that he'd be okay. She and Zeke hugged more now than they ever had.

Tanisha had escaped the Polar Bear Plague, and she and Caleb were practically entwined next to one of the space heaters that were standing in for bonfires. The same was true of Caitlin and Sergio. Stephanie Lanphier and Kennedy LaRue were also cuddling shamelessly, even though they hadn't had a combat deployment yet. They'd been drifting for a year.

Partnerless, Ilisapie soon found herself next to Raleigh again, with the younger Ranger under her arm as they made s'mores over a grill. _DOWN, Lissa. You're going to have to write lines: I will not fuck Raleigh Becket. That's all you need, another round of the "slutty native girl" reputation._

She winced involuntarily, and Raleigh glanced at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, but a few of the others had noticed her frowning. She winked at Kennedy, the pilot from New Orleans. "Cold, dark weather depresses me."

"Girrrl, you live in the wrong part of the continent, then!" Stephanie exclaimed, and the others laughed.

"Can Inuit even get the seasonal affective depression thing?" demanded Tendo Choi, getting appalled looks from some of his more sensitive crewmates.

"And can Tendo be any more tactless?" scolded someone, but Lissa waved them off.

"It's fine. Actually, it's pretty common. I don't think a lot of people really _like _being out of the sun for months on end. Don't worry, I'm not really," she assured Raleigh, seeing his concerned look. She booped him on the nose. "Just thinking. I get philosophical when I'm tipsy."

_Just be a wingman, find him a cute crew girl._

The problem was, Raleigh didn't seem interested in the cute crew girls. Maybe Ilisapie wasn't trying hard enough. There was plenty of flirting going on, but the kid who'd ranked second in People Magazine's Sexiest Ranger poll seemed more in the mood to talk shop with fellow pilots and J-techs than pick a girl up. (Then again, the effort of picking _anybody _up had to be a lot less for Raleigh Becket than Ilisapie Flint, so it might have just been skewed perspective.)

"Yance and me love Brutus," he informed some of the crew who thought Canada's Jaeger's design was inelegant. "He looks like the Hulk."

"Awful top-heavy, though - no offense," said Caleb quickly.

Ilisapie waved him off. "It doesn't offend me as long as I don't hear you calling him the cave troll."

Caitlin cackled, well on her way to drunk. "That and the 'butt-rockets' thing - you kicked Duc all around the Kwoon for it! I shoulda sold tickets!"

"Chrome's badass," said Raleigh. "I couldn' believe how fast he is. You'd'a knocked Yamarashi over by yourselves!"

"Schoenfeld stacked as much upper body strength on him as he could after seeing a few of the Mark-1's and Mark-2's getting knocked over," Lissa explained to the curious listeners. "We needed a heavyweight. He's it."

"I can't wait to see him in action. Him and Shaolin Rogue - the biggest and the smallest," said Tanisha.

"Shaolin's spear, baby, that's what I wanna see in action!" exclaimed Tendo.

"Tendo, man, he's all about the size of the spear!" chortled Raleigh, getting a chorus of raunchy noises from Team Gipsy. Tendo didn't even blush, just smirked at the crowd in general.

"And he's not even the one who likes guys," one of the other LOCCENT techs from Gipsy added.

Scanning the "bonfire" crew, Ilisapie noticed she wasn't the only one distracted. One of Gipsy's strike troop coordinators who'd wandered off to take a phone call was now back in front of the grills, scowling as her marshmallow turned slowly into charcoal. "What's up, Bikini Babe?" asked Raleigh.

(Not that Hien Nguyen had been the only one of the women in a bikini in the Icebox Challenge, but hers had definitely been the smallest, much to the awe of the participants and the delight of the boys.) Now she shrugged, avoiding her crew's eyes. "Nothing really. My parents saw the Polar Bear video on YouTube, and had the usual reaction. They don't approve, I'm a bad slutty girl, and should come home right now. Same shit, different day."

"Huh?!" Everyone exchanged appalled looks. "They didn't... _really_ call you slutty - did they?" asked Stephanie Lanphier slowly.

"Is it, like, a culture thing?" someone asked. Hien was first-generation from a Vietnamese immigrant family.

Hien snorted. "Not really. Just rigid, overprotective helicopter parent thing. I joined the National Guard to get away from them. They were so sure I'd wash out and come crawling back. Ten years on, they're still waiting and sending me nastygrams on what a horrible rebellious child I am."

Raleigh growled. "Yeah, you're a real disgrace. You're only a Jaeger Program Strike Trooper in charge of mobilizing crew and saving lives when a kaiju comes ashore, nothing for parents to be proud of there."

"Don't worry about it, kiddo. I'm used to it." She hugged Raleigh and let the rest of the crew ply her with booze, and gradually relaxed again.

Kennedy and Stephanie were still seething. "What kind of parent calls their own kid a slut?" Steffie fumed.

"Virgil tried that _once." _At Steffie's astonished face, Kennedy smirked. "Remember sophomore year, when he couldn't drive 'cause my parents took his license and made him go to that 'class?'"

"Holy _shit!_ I thought it was driving school because he got a ticket or something!"

Kennedy grinned, and to Ilisapie's relief, while Hien was listening now, the older woman was smirking too. "My Mama's big on the punishment fitting the crime. They found one of those sensitivity training things that courts order assholes to do after they harass or beat up women and signed him up for it. Daddy said if he ever heard Virgil talking about any woman that way again, he'd be paying for college himself."

"LaRue, I _like _your Mama and Daddy," announced Tanisha.

"Why'd your brother say that in the first place?" Tendo demanded.

Kennedy rolled her eyes. "He didn't like my Homecoming date. Guy was kind of an asshole, but that was my problem, not Virgil's. Long story."

"The first time I dated at all was after I left home," said Hien. "My mother called me a slut for wanting to try on makeup when I was twelve."

Ilisapie noticed that most of those aghast were the men. While many of the women in the group were disgusted, few were showing much surprise. _I was just the fat, ugly girl who'd never get a boy to go out with me_, she mused, recalling middle and high school and telling herself it didn't still sting. So she'd slathered on make-up and worn short skirts, thinking she could prove something, but after the first couple of boys took her up on it, all that had done was earn her the brand of slut.

Zeke had been among the few people in her family who'd never scolded her for the way she dressed - even when they were both moody teenagers - or looked down on her because of who she slept with or how often. "You can always tell me if someone's messing with you or you need help," he'd said they yakked on Skype while she was around the world on assignments. "Or if you _wanna _talk. Other than that, it's nobody's business."

_Why_ did she keep looking at Raleigh Becket? Well, the guy was easy on the eyes; it was no crime to admit that. But he'd have his pick of girls, especially now that he was a tested Ranger with a kill to his name. The Psychs would probably say it was yet another holdover to her 'formative years,' sighing over the Prom King who'd never notice her.

Even when feelings were mutual, the PPDC brass had to throw up roadblocks. Look at Shaolin Rogue. They were case in point. Fei-Yen and Huan had been mortified the first time Ilisapie and Zeke had walked in on them, fully expecting disapproval. "Your Air Force doesn't allow fraternization?" Ilisapie had guessed.

Fei-Yen had awkwardly looked away. "It's not forbidden in regulations. Only to me."

It had taken them most of Class 2017-A to figure it out: Fei-Yen Wang was too beautiful, her value to the propaganda machine too high to lose the untouchable poster girl image. On top of that, the rather wiry, gawky Huan Che wasn't the handsome buck suitable to be next to her in a romance. They were billed as surrogate siblings, rumors of romance or sex quickly disclaimed, and in most of the promotions, Fei-Yen appeared alone with Huan like an afterthought in the background, if at all. As if she could pilot Shaolin Rogue _or _her fighter jet without his help.

Hell, even suitably photogenic couples couldn't live their lives without the fucking brass sticking their noses in it. Look at Peter Lepp and Hedy Keres, Eden Assassin's pilots. Their relationship was no secret, their engagement had been greeted with cheers and feel-good stories worldwide, but the brass kept pushing them to do a public wedding and slobber all over each other in front of the cameras. According to Corps gossip, all they really wanted was to just tie the knot back in Estonia with their families.

_So fighting kaiju has to be priority. Yeah, we all get that. But do we really all sign on to turn into propaganda puppets even in our personal lives too? _Was it really that to be Rangers, people could never just be with whoever they wanted for however long they wanted?

An argument broke her out of her musings. "You _can't _go spend the night in the infirmary, Rals," Stephanie was insisting. "You might as well sleep in a petri dish. Dr. Tán will just kick you out again."

Raleigh fidgeted, avoiding people's eyes. "Like there's no possibility I'll get the flu from my room. Yancy lives there too."

_He doesn't want to be there alone. He'll worry about Yancy all night. _

"Come on," said her mouth before her brain gave permission. "I'm all by my lonesome tonight too. You can borrow Zeke's bunk." _Dammit, Lissa!_

But he smiled, looking relieved. Well, fine. They'd both be more comfortable sharing a room than by themselves, fretting about their partners in the infirmary. But she was _not _going to make a move on him. He was too young, too good-looking. He wouldn't be interested in Ilisapie Flint, she told herself as she let them both into her quarters. Her making an attempt would just embarrass them both.

She reallywas _not _expecting Raleigh make a move.

But he did. Even a girl with half of Ilisapie's experience couldn't miss the way he moved closer, the heat in his eyes as an unmistakable invitation.

And idiot that she was, she just stared until he backed off in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"W-wait." _Pull it together, woman!_ "You mean... seriously?" Not the sexiest thing she'd ever said. For god's sake, she might not be a head-turner, but she wasn't a blushing virgin either. She should be able to turn a guy down - or accept his offer - without stammering and fidgeting.

For someone she would have expected to be a lot more confident with women, Raleigh was almost as flustered as she was. "I wasn't trying to offend you or anything."

"You didn't," she managed to say quickly with something resembling firmness. Swallowing hard, she added, "At all." Big blue eyes met hers again. It really ought to be against the law for a guy to be that cute. "I just... figured you'd be interested in someone...else."

Raleigh frowned, puzzled, and shook his head. "I'm not cheating on anybody."

"I know, but there's cuter girls around here than me." Now she got a full-blown deer-in-the-headlights look. "Dammit! Forget I said that. I was getting all philosophical at the bonfire."

To her relief, he rallied and gave her an awkward, crooked grin. "Uh-oh, you're one of those? Booze makes you quote Nietzsche?"

"More like Abigail Adams, but yeah." She dared to try and regain the moment. "And I was trying to talk myself out of hitting on _you._"

"Why, there's better-looking guys around here," he deadpanned, and she laughed. She'd probably deserved that. "I wasn't... y'know, looking for anything serious. Just someone who gets it. A Ranger."

"Yeah, I get that." _Fighting kaiju's not about being desirable. We're not in public. If I want him and for god-knows-what reason, he wants me, what's the problem?_ "Want to forget it? Everything about the war and all the shit we're _supposed _to do?"

"I'm up for that."

_Stop thinking about it, Lissa. Just do what you want. You don't owe anyone explanations. _She was a Ranger, he was a Ranger. They could have a night and didn't answer to anyone.

So she moved closer, and he met her in the center. Just two Rangers looking for a good night. If they both wanted it, whatever complications might lie in the reasons, they were adults. They would be able to have this much of what they wanted for themselves.

* * *

_The day after…_

She was surprised in the morning to find him still there, on IM to the infirmary. "Both our partners are still under quarantine."

Ilisapie mock-groaned, rolling over and pretending to hide under her pillow. "Your brother's gonna kill me, isn't he?"

"I won't let him kick your ass if you won't let Zeke kick mine."

"Zeke knows better."

Raleigh huffed. "I wish Yancy did."

"He gives the shovel talk?!"

But the kid laughed. "Nah, not _that _bad - not like Kennedy's brother, apparently," he added, making a face. "He just lurks."

"He can suck it. We're all grown-ups piloting Jaegers. Outside the conn-pod, we can do what we want."

She knew Raleigh didn't want a relationship. Hell, _she _didn't want a relationship. But if he wasn't in a hurry to bail out of her quarters, she wasn't going to kick him out. Their partners were still in sickbay. She could have him for a day. It certainly wasn't like any fling she'd had with anyone else. Then again, maybe she shouldn't have expected it to be.

They were both Rangers, after all.

They debated the merits of Gipsy and Chrome's hull armor and had a Scrabble death match. They smuggled sandwiches from the mess hall during off hours so they wouldn't have to deal with the rest of the Corp's ribbing. Lissa broke out her special Canadian Club stash, and they played a drinking game they found on the Internet to four episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She regaled Raleigh with stories from her two years as a support chopper pilot, including the iconic first battle between Brawler Yukon and Karloff.

That his awe was clearly not feigned was one hell of a turn-on. They went two more rounds in her bed after that.

She did feel a little pang at having to have the "this isn't a long-term thing" talk. They skirted around it, but she made sure to get the message across, and he responded in kind. "You'll have your pick of the Hollywood girls," she said cheerfully. _Don't worry, I'm not expecting anything._

"If being a chopper pilot wasn't enough to impress the guys, just tell 'em now you're a Jaeger pilot," he replied. "Or don't tell 'em. If they don't already know, they're not paying attention." He smiled, those big, pretty eyes betraying what she thought might have been a little regret of his own. "I don't know when we'll get assigned to the same Dome again."

Ilisapie was careful to be casual about it. "We've got a job to do. That's the way it goes. My door's always open if you visit." She winked at him, and he grinned more easily. "Today was fun."

"It was that."

When they were reunited with Zeke and Yancy, they studiously avoided looking at each other. But Ilisapie couldn't decide whether to laugh or hide when Zeke inevitably worked it out even before they went for their next round in the drift.

"You and – _Lissa!_" he practically squeaked. "He's five years younger!"

She swatted him. "So? We're adults, and we're Rangers. We can do what we want off the clock."

Okay, she was apprehensive the first time she saw Yancy in the corridor, but while he gave her a _look_, he didn't say anything. Raleigh slyly informed her, "I just reminded him that the last girl he hooked up with in the Academy was six years older than him."

"Mm, you Beckets like older women?" she couldn't resist saying. She laughed at the way he blushed.

* * *

_The years after…_

They were Rangers. That came first for all of them. Ilisapie wondered if she should envy the pilots who were partnered with a lover instead of a friend or relative… or maybe not. Her link to Zeke felt like it was consuming her at times, and she'd always thought they were pretty contained, whole people. What did it do to the minds of the others?

The media kept obnoxious track of their lives outside the conn-pods. Some went from one-night-stand to one-night-stand. Some were reported as perpetually single. Some even dated for longer stretches. Ilisapie had her doubts of whether she was capable of giving anyone else that much of herself. She wasn't beautiful, but Raleigh was right: now she impressed people, and she had her pick of partners outside the Corps.

Within the Corps, it was always a little different. Raleigh Becket wasn't the only Ranger she had (and she seriously doubted she was the only one he ever had), but there was… an understanding between them all. No one else in the world had that, not even within the Corps. Fellow Rangers didn't expect anything more than sexual pleasure and confidentiality, and she didn't expect anything more than that from them. They fucked, they relaxed, they left each other's rooms for their Jaegers and their partners and went their separate ways with little more than a few innuendos. The crews and support staff nudged and winked and made bets among themselves about who would hook up with whom, but outside Shatterdome walls, they kept their mouths shut.

Rangers gave so much to their Jaegers and their partners. They could keep something for themselves.

**~Fin~**

**Original Character Guide**

**Tanisha Davis and Caleb Mitchell: ** Pilots of Yankee Star, America's Mark-2, who teamed up with Gipsy Danger to destroy Yamarashi in October 2017. Tanisha is a black woman from Los Angeles, Caleb is white from small-town Oklahoma.

**Fei-Yen Wang and Huan Che:** Pilots of Shaolin Rogue, China's Mark-3 who graduated Class 2017-A of the Jaeger Academy with Ilisapie and Zeke. They are in a long-term, clandestine-by-orders relationship, because the Chinese Commanding Officers want the beautiful Fei-Yen to continue serving as the untouchable poster girl for propaganda, or at least by the side of a handsomer man than Huan.

**Hien Nguyen:** Personnel Coordinator for Whiskey Alpha, a support command chopper for Gipsy Danger. First generation daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, she is estranged from her parents after joining the National Guard to escape their domineering. They take little pride in her service with the PPDC as a support and rescue worker and are outraged when the media shows images of her among the Jaeger crews goofing off.


	7. The Kids Are All Right

_**Author's Notes:**__ Here follows the first part of my headcanon on how Mako spent her teen years before the Jaeger Academy! Hope you all like! Some of the story is light-hearted, but there are some heavier themes like childhood trauma, separation from family, racism, and religious bigotry. Nittany Valley Preparatory Academy doesn't exist, but it's modeled after the hundreds of well-funded and well-staffed boarding schools - basically what a good school should really be (sadly rare and unaffordable for many)._

**_Canon_**_** Note:** This fic canon uses the extended canon birthdate of January 2005 for Mako, so she would have been eleven when Onibaba attacked Tokyo. She was adopted by Stacker Pentecost about six weeks afterward and spent a little over a year living with him before this fic begins._

_For those awaiting updates to **Aurora Australis**, I'm happy to report that those will follow soon now that work has finally calmed down a bit (for now, anyway.) Since teenaged Mako appears in the next chapter, I decided to update this story first for a little background._

**Chapter Seven: The Kids Are All Right**

_June 2017…  
Lima Shatterdome, Peru…_

Like many military units, PPDC bases formed close-knit communities. They protected their own, particularly their Rangers, the ones under the most pressure from forces within and without. Only a few Rangers had family on base, but it went without saying for all personnel: the family of pilots and crew were under the protection of everyone who wore a PPDC uniform. And there was no object of that protection more sacred than their children.

Technically, Stacker Pentecost wasn't a Ranger-parent. He adopted Mako Mori after being permanently grounded. If he'd had his way, even the records of Mako's adoption would have been sealed, but it wasn't permitted. At every base where they were stationed, Jaeger Program personnel circled the wagons to protect Mako as fiercely as they did all other children of PPDC officers and crew.

For the first fourteen months of her life with her adoptive father, Mako lived and traveled at Stacker's side. Stacker was unprepared for how easily he became accustomed to her presence – let alone the way it lifted his heart to have her here. They talked about her lessons and his work, he taught her a few of the basic Jaeger Bushido exercises, which fascinated her, and he found time for excursions with her beyond the bases to the countryside wherever he was stationed. However, he knew in his heart that this routine couldn't last.

He and Tamsin dipped into their savings to hire Dr. Tanja Schneider, a child psychologist who was fluent in both English and Japanese, to travel with Stacker and tutor Mako. Still, he knew in his heart that a nomadic lifestyle through the noisy, chaotic world of PPDC bases wouldn't be conducive to Mako's recovery.

Even after Stacker received the long-term command of Lima Shatterdome, Dr. Schneider warned that a combat deployment base in a major target city was not the place for Mako. "This isn't to say she's unhappy with you. Far from it. She's as hesitant about living away from school as you are to send her. But the Breach alerts are tense and stressful for even the most seasoned adults. She tries to hide it, but it does distress her, and it will hamper her recovery."

"Where could I send her?" Stacker asked. "Do you have a place in mind?" He rather hoped so, since each time he started to investigate live-away schools, his heart seemed to sink, and he somehow managed to find something else more urgent.

"Six months ago, General Liang's daughter and her family relocated to the U.S. His two granddaughters are now attending Nittany Valley Preparatory Academy in State College, Pennsylvania. It's one of the best-reputed schools in North America, never mind the U.S. It takes students from around the world and has an excellent scholarship program. Their board of governors just approved an arrangement to cover tuition and board with PPDC benefits. Jasper Schoenfeld's son has been there for three years, and a few other senior officers have begun sending their children. They've also proposed a staff position for me."

For the first time since they'd begun serious discussions on this subject, Stacker felt less dismal. A place far inland, safe and insulated, with other children of PPDC personnel who undoubtedly could understand a little of what Mako had gone through, with parents familiar to Stacker… that was a good prospect. A chance for Mako to make friends her own age and learn from teachers in person instead of via satellite, and even Dr. Schneider on hand to continue working with her.

He would miss her. Mako would miss him. But surely the other parents rejoined their children during holidays and whenever there was leave available. The decent thing would surely be to give Mako a chance to remain part of the normal world and have a normal girl's experiences, to connect with other children and make friends. Keeping Mako's connection to Stacker would be far simpler and easier than trying to maintain long-distance friendships until she grew up. Because no matter the distance or the struggles from the war, Stacker would never fail to be there for her.

* * *

_August 2017…  
Nittany Valley Preparatory Academy, State College, Pennsylvania…_

Mako was nervous, though she tried not to show it. She did not want to worry Sensei, let alone act improperly in front of other people. She would never want to give him cause to be ashamed of her.

Part of her was eager to see this new school and begin to study with other students in person instead of over video conferences. The pictures that Sensei and Dr. Schneider had shown to her looked very pretty and pleasant: rolling green hills and red brick buildings, trees that turned brilliant red and gold in the autumn and even cherry trees that bloomed in the spring. Dr. Schneider had said that here were students here from Japan, but also many other countries. Mako was very relieved that Dr. Schneider was now to work for the school, so she would still be here in person.

But after Mako was installed, Sensei would return to Lima. She told herself that she must not cry or sulk, though her heart pounded and her insides squirmed just thinking about. Sensei was commander of a Shatterdome, in charge of deploying two Jaegers in defense of the entire continent of South America. His duties and attention were vital, and Mako would be selfish to demand to see him every day.

"_I will miss you very much, Mako-chan_," he had told her more than once, in that gentle voice that she only heard when he addressed her. "_If you truly don't want to go, then I will not send you away_."

"I do not _not _want to go," she told him in English. "I am excited to see my new school."

It was all far more complicated in her mind than she could express in English. She studied the language for several hours every day and practiced on Sensei, Dr. Schneider, and the kind staff who worked in the mess hall and quartermaster. She would miss the people who worked here, and Sensei most of all.

But she would not miss the crashes of machinery and the acrid smell of grease and smoke, the damage still visible in Lima near the port where Brawler Yukon had fought and defeated Peuchen in 2015. The tension in the people grew and grew with each passing week as more and more time went by after the last kaiju came out of the Breach, until it was so thick in the corridors and mess hall that Mako stayed immured in Sensei's quarters nearly all day, every day. And then, the horrible blare of the alert sirens, the pound of boots in the halls and shouting voices for hours and hours, the inescapable intercom announcements on the location of the kaiju and the duties of the crews.

To Mako's surprise and pleasure, Tamsin was able to come from Hawaii to see her to school. Tamsin's cancer treatment had ended in April, and Sensei and Dr. Schneider assured Mako that she was doing well. Tamsin seemed stronger than she'd looked the first time Mako met her in the hospital in Hawaii. Now it was no longer so obvious that she had been sick, though she was thin and still tired easily.

Sensei and Tamsin had private orientation with Mako and a group of teachers and Dr. Schneider. There were several who spoke Japanese, but Mako was proud (if a bit surprised) that she could converse in English fairly well after a year with Sensei. "The standard American curriculum would put a girl your age in sixth or seventh grade," said Mrs. Giyoda, who was in charge of the girls. "But you are already well ahead of your age group in nearly every subject, so we're going to start you in eighth grade."

Mako took note of Sensei and Tamsin's pleased expressions, and nodded. "There will be other students your age in that grade," Dr. Schneider added. "It's very common here for students to be advanced. Classes aren't confined to grades."

"I will work hard," Mako promised Sensei and Tamsin.

Sensei smiled. "I know you will. Remember to also enjoy yourself."

There was a dauntingly long list of classes and clubs and activities for Mako to choose from. She had marked the ones involving math, science, and learning advanced English during the flight to Pennsylvania, but Tamsin stopped her from filling out the final application form. "Wait until you've had your tour and met your classmates to see what might interest you. Don't confine yourself to activities about school."

Sensei agreed. "Wait until you've had your orientation and met some of the other students. Especially the internationals like you. Don't be afraid to pick a class because you'd rather study with your friends."

That surprised Mako. Sensei was such a man of work. He took Mako on holidays when leave permitted and seized chances at base passes for them to take excursions beyond the confines of the base, but when it came to school, he expected her attention on her studies.

He seemed to sense her confusion, and gave her a gentle chuck under the chin. _"Satellite school gave you less options, Mako-chan,_" he told her in Japanese. "_Of course, I expect you to apply yourself to your core studies, but not to the exclusion of everything else._"

Mrs. Giyoda pondered then, then spoke up in perfect Japanese. "_I see you have an interest in the robotics club, physics, and drafting. That has something to do with your father's work?_"

"I…" Mako had never really said this openly to anyone but Sensei, Tamsin, and Dr. Schneider. "I want to learn to pilot a Jaeger."

She always got a sense of unease from Sensei, as if he were opposed to it. But Tamsin and Dr. Schneider seemed to agree with her, and glared Sensei down each time it seemed like he might say something against it. Mako wasn't sure what she would do if he said outright that he disapproved, and was very glad she didn't have to find out.

Mrs. Giyoda noticed as well, but to Mako's relief, she did not declare the goal impossible. "The Jaeger Academy is on a lot of our students' minds. You'd need curriculum focused on math and hard science until you can gain entry into engineering courses at the local colleges, but you'll also need to get into serious physical shape. The majority of each year's applicants don't pass the first cut.

"May I…" Mako hesitated, worried about displeasing Sensei if she pressed this agenda. "Would it be possible to learn Jaeger Bushido at school?"

She bit her lip, but saw Tamsin giving Stacker a mild look, and Sensei, to her relief, didn't seem so cross as he might have been. "What martial arts coursework do you have available?"

Mrs. Giyoda tapped her display to show a list of Physical Education courses. "Most of the major tracks have corresponding extra-curricular clubs. For students who really want to push for advanced study, there's a very good studio in town that they can visit up to three times a week." She smiled again at Mako. "You're not the only one interested in learning it."

Mako smiled back. The people here seemed very nice. At least Dr. Schneider would be a familiar face.

But it was harder to smile when Sensei and Tamsin said goodbye to her.

"_You are still a girl, Mako-chan,_" Sensei told her, kneeling next to her on the grass. "_Don't be in a hurry to grow up or commit to a profession. As long as you're dedicated to your studies, you can take the time to enjoy life. I will be proud of you no matter what you do._"

"_You can call or text or e-mail either of us,_" Tamsin added. "_Any time you like. We will always be here for you no matter where we are."_

Mako's smile was a good deal more wobbly as she made herself stand still and wave, watching Sensei and Tamsin climb into their car. She was concentrating so hard on hiding her nervousness and the lump in her throat that she didn't recognize until years later the glitter in Sensei's eyes, or the way he clutched Tamsin's hand as if his life depended on it, the way his jaw clenched even as he smiled at Mako.

"It is okay to cry," Dr. Schneider told her as their car went out of sight around a hill. Mako shook her head. She didn't want to cry. "Let me give you your tour now. It will help to think of something else."

Yes, that was good. Each time her surroundings changed, from the beginning with that first tour of Sensei's base in Alaska, having the new place to look around was a good distraction from all the strangeness. Sensei and Dr. Schneider had taken her for a walk each time they relocated after that.

So Mako paid strict attention to her guide and her new home, if only to keep distracted from knowing that Sensei and Tamsin were getting farther and farther away.

They started on the outside, walking along the footpaths that led between the different sports fields, tennis courts, and stables. Mako had never ridden a horse before, and it seemed awfully high up. Still, the different colored animals in the paddock outside the stables considered her with gentle eyes, and she thought she might like to get to know them. Groups of boys and girls were exercising together on the dark red running track.

The Sports Complex contained basketball courts, an enormous swimming pool completely inside a glass-walled section, a court where boys were wrestling, and, Mako was pleased to discover, a "martial arts room."

"This is the newest section, because so many students have become interested in learning things like Jaeger Bushido. A few boys and girls used to go into town for classes in mixed martial arts, but now we have instructors here."

"Are there others like me? They want to be pilots?"

"Oh, yes." Something in Dr. Schneider's tone made Mako think she was keeping a secret. It was the same sly tone that Tamsin sometimes had when she was teasing Mako or Sensei.

The residence halls were scattered in small clusters between the academic buildings. Mako fully expected the inside of hers to look like Gryffindor House in Harry Potter. Well, the common room did look a bit like that, with couches and cushions and an enormous hearth, paneled in wood with bookshelves built into the walls. But there were only two beds in each bedroom, sharing a bathroom and another suite that belonged to the "house mothers," Aisha Brown and Farrah Darzi, two women who supervised the ten girls in the house.

"Teachers and counselors have discovered that boys and girls are happier and healthier if they have a little space of their own. The younger children are in rooms of four, but older than age ten, you have only one roommate."

Mako's heart started to pound again as they led her to the room where she was going to live, and she saw that there was another girl already there, sitting on one of the beds.

"Liling, this is Mako Mori. Mako, this is Liling Gáo."

The other girl looked to be Mako's age and Chinese. Her side of the room had clearly been occupied for longer. There were clothes already in the wardrobe and posters on the walls, and books neatly stacked on the little desk next to her bed. But Mako suddenly noted the way she was sitting - straight and still, eyes a little wide as she regarded Mako, hands folded tight in her lap.

Maybe Liling Gáo was as nervous about meeting Mako as Mako was about meeting her.

"Hi. I am glad to meet you. I come from Shanghai."

"I am glad to meet you also. I come from Tangeshima."

It seemed they were both at about the same level of English. "Do you speak Mandarin?" asked Liling hopefully.

Mako admitted, "_Very little._" She did know how to say, "_Do you speak Japanese?_" in Mandarin. Liling smiled sheepishly and shook her head.

"You will have English Second Language classes together," Farrah told them. "But you can choose another language you would like to earn. There are classes for Mandarin _and _Japanese."

Mako was surprised and gratified at how eagerly Liling nodded along with her. She, Sensei, and Tamsin had considered the different languages she could learn, and Mandarin had been one of her top choices - that or Cantonese, since a very large portion of the PPDC spoke them first. But then there was also Spanish and Portuguese, dominant in the southeast Pacific quadrant, including the J-Tech hub in Buenos Aires.

"There are many other new students now?" she asked the house mothers.

"Not in your grade," one of them said. "But every year we have a few more from the PPDC. Liling started in January."

So only a few months ago, this other girl was the nervous newcomer. That made Mako feel a little better. She took a few deep breaths and a second look around the room... and noticed for the first time what the posters and pictures on Liling's side of the room were: Jaegers. Jaeger statistics sheets. Some were the lovely prints released in commemoration of each mech's launch, in vibrant colors with the biographies of the pilots and lists of their mechs' features. Others were blueprints and stats not available for public release - a special perk that Jaeger Program families shared with their children. Mako had a set of her own.

She didn't even notice how broadly she was grinning, especially when she saw two posters of Coyote Tango: one with Vic and Gunnar Tunari, which commemorated her recent re-launch, and the other an older one, with the image of Sensei and Tamsin. Liling even had a neatly-printed collection of notes beneath them, compiling the changes made to Coyote's systems during her refitting after Onibaba.

Mako was only vaguely aware of the smirks exchanged by the house mothers. "We think you two will get along very well."

Mako beamed at Liling. "I think we will too."

* * *

_PPDC Internal Network  
[Private]: Online  
SPentecost: Online_

Stacker pounced on his portable interface so fast that he nearly knocked it off their hotel room bed. Tamsin came sprinting out of the bathroom at his shout, and gave him a shove so she would have room to see the screen.

_[Private]: Hello Sensei and Tamsin_

_SPentecost: Hello, Mako-chan! How was orientation?_

_[Private]: Orientation was fun. I signed up for classes._

_SPentecost: Tell us what you are studying._

_[Private]: English Second Language. My roommate's name is Liling. We will take English together. She is from Shanghai, so I will study Mandarin and she will study Japanese. _

_SPentecost: Tamsin asks if you like her._

_[Private]: She is very nice. She has Jaeger posters on her walls. She likes animals and she wants to study K-Science. I will learn to ride horses._

_SPentecost: Have you signed up for your classes yet?_

_[Private]: Advanced Algebra, Analytic Geometry, Introduction to Chemistry, World History, Drafting for Beginners, and ESL. _

"Good god, that's a heavy schedule," Tamsin muttered. "I hope she's not overextending herself. Isn't she taking anything fun?"

_SPentecost: Tamsin asks if you are taking any classes for fun._

_[Private]: There are elective classes every day, and evening classes for physical education. I will learn Mixed Martial Arts and Outdoor Sports. I will study Japanese Language and Literature on Monday and Wednesday and Introduction to Mandarin on Tuesday and Friday."_

_SPentecost: Are you excited?_

_[Private]: Yes, I am very excited to begin. I have met all of the girls in my house. There is a robotics club. Eshe Lagat comes from Kenya, but she is studying Japanese. She says she will help me with English if I will help her with Japanese._

Tamsin started jumping on the bed. Stacker managed to contain himself (but only just.)

* * *

_September 2017…_

Mako's house mothers and counselors urged her not to try to do everything too fast. "You'll exhaust yourself!" But Mako hardly knew which way to look during her first few weeks. There was too much to do and see.

She had always been a diligent student. Her father and mother had expected nothing less, and it was the same with Sensei and Tamsin. She wanted to properly repay them for all they'd done for her. She had always been smart at mathematics, and although the small school in Nakatane hadn't allowed for advancing beyond her age group, she had quickly moved through the satellite classes she took at each of Sensei's posts. Now both of her math classes were populated mostly by boys and girls two or three years older than she was. But there were a few other students her age. There was even a boy in the class who was younger than Mako: Aaron Schoenfeld.

Mako always adhered to Sensei and Dr. Schneider's instructions not to say what her family did within the PPDC, and although she knew that Liling and some of the other students had family there, no one else gave details either. However, there was no escaping Aaron Schoenfeld's name: he was the only son of Jasper Schoenfeld, who had founded the Jaeger Program. It was very hard for Mako not to stare at him, which made her feel guilty, but to her relief, Aaron was just glad to sit near someone close to his own age.

Classes were suspended in September so everyone could watch the broadcast of Shaolin Rogue's launch from Hong Kong. Liling and the other students from China were especially happy and proud that day. She whispered in Mako's ear during a wide, scanning scene of all the PPDC personnel in their uniforms, "I can see my grandfather."

Mako giggled and whispered back, "My Sensei isn't in Hong Kong; he is in Lima."

Everyone just grinned at Aaron when they saw Jasper Schoenfeld standing among the dignitaries in China.

"I want to learn to drive a Jaeger," said Mako as Shaolin Rogue took his first steps out of the hangar.

"Me too," sighed Liling.

"Jaegers need two pilots," Aaron pointed out. "You could go to the Jaeger Academy together."

Mako and Liling looked from him to each other.

* * *

_October 17, 2017…_

No one was allowed to turn on the televisions when a new kaiju came out of the Breach, but classes were suspended so that anyone who wanted to talk to counselors could do that. Mako wound up in a group with Liling, Aaron, and some of the other "tweens" as the Americans called them, presided over by Dr. Schneider.

"Have you ever seen a kaiju?" Aaron asked Mako.

She just nodded.

"My cousins and I, we saw Reckoner," said Liling. "That was when my mother and my uncle decided we could not stay in Hong Kong or Shanghai."

"Why America?" Mako asked, glad to think about being here and not having to talk about Tokyo. "Why not Beijing or somewhere like - that?" She frowned to herself, trying to think of the English word.

"Inland," said Aaron.

"Mother says Beijing is not far enough. She was closer to Reckoner. It frightened her, and she was angry that Hong Kong did not deploy Silver Lion before Reckoner came ashore. She is afraid they care more about saving money than saving people."

Mako had never thought about it that way. Sensei would not let her watch any engagements – not that she wanted to – but she read the stories about each one. Two Jaegers had not been deployed at the same time until June of this year, in Osaka, Japan. Silver Lion and Tacit Ronin had killed Hammerjaw while it was still offshore. Maybe if two Jaegers had fought Onibaba, Tamsin would not have been hurt in the fight. Maybe they could have stopped the kaiju before it reached the city.

She didn't speak of that, and when Dr. Schneider suggested that she have her first lesson at riding a horse, Mako accepted. It would be better to be outside under the trees, far away from phones and televisions and the internet.

"They're all named after scientists," Aaron explained as they walked into the pasture armed with a bag of raw carrots. Mako was a little nervous, but although nearly every horse in the field looked up, pricking their ears, only a few came towards them.

One of the smaller ones actually ran to get ahead of the others. Mako stepped behind Aaron, but the black-brown horse with splashes of white on his neck and legs was most interested in Aaron, whuffing at him as it accepted two carrots. "That's Einstein," said Liling. "He loves Aaron. It's okay, he won't bite."

Mako hesitantly extended her hand, and despite the size of his teeth, Einstein plucked the offering daintily from her fingers. She petted his nose the way Aaron was doing. "Hi, Einstein. You must be very smart."

Aaron whispered, "Actually, he's really dumb." Half of their group, including Liling, giggled, while the other half made noises of protest on Einstein's behalf, but the horse didn't seem to mind, since he was surrounded by kids petting and feeding him.

Mako was introduced to everyone's favorites (none of the students owned any of the horses, but they all seemed to have one they considered "mine"). Then the students and staff who worked with the horses brought out a pewter gray mare with a braided black mane. She was taller than Mako expected; riding her would mean being very high up!

"Mako, this is Ada. You're going to learn with her today."

"Can we come too?" Liling begged.

"Yes, we'll all go for a walk. Bring Einstein and Hypatia in to get saddled up." Liling was just tall enough to slip a lead around the neck of a chestnut mare, and Einstein followed Aaron without even needing a lead.

Mako fed Ada some carrots and petted her silky neck. "She's very big," she admitted.

Dr. Schneider smiled. "She is tall, but you're going to get taller, and some of the shorter horses are too stocky for your legs. I learned to ride on a horse like her. I had to grow into him too."

That was encouraging, so Mako let the stable hands show her how to put her feet in the stirrups to mount up, and once actually in the saddle, she found it wasn't as precarious as she'd feared. Ada endured her first wobbly practices with complete patience and watched her with big, black eyes.

After being led around the paddock a few times, Liling and Aaron rode their horses out to join them, and Mako felt confident enough to steer on her own. It was funny looking down so far to see Aaron, because Einstein's back was so much lower than Ada and Hypatia's. "He's mostly for teaching the younger kids," Aaron told her. "Someday I'll be too big for him."

He sounded glum, but then Einstein snorted as if to deny it, and they all laughed.

It was a fine afternoon, and for long stretches, Mako actually forgot that there was a kaiju in the ocean right then. Their party rode at a smooth walk over the hills to the little pond on the edge of the campus, all the way around. Some teachers met them there with a picnic, and the horses grazed while they fed the ducks.

It was full dark by the time they got back to the barn, but when Mako asked to stay and help feed the horses, "since they had to watch us eat," the supervisors laughed and allowed it. One of the older students who did her work hours at the barn gave Mako some grooming lessons, and she brushed down Ada's silky coat and took the braids out of her mane while the horse ate.

They were still working when the chime went off to signal an announcement from the administrators, a little muted in the barn to keep from scaring the horses. "_Attention, teachers and students: we're happy to announce that the kaiju Yamarashi had been destroyed in Los Angeles!"_

Some of the younger kids whooped before they remembered where they were, but most of the horses didn't seem to care. (Einstein just whinnied and tossed his head as if he was cheering along with Aaron.)

The teachers wouldn't allow the students to watch the replays of the battle on television (at least not in Mako's house), but she did beg to know, "Which Jaegers got him?"

Farrah, one of their house mothers, squinted at her phone. "Yankee Star and... Gipsy Danger. The ones stationed in Los Angeles."

All the girls in Mako's house crowded into her and Liling's room to pore over the stats sheets and watch as Mako and Liling marked the kill. "Gipsy Danger is brand new!" exclaimed Eshe, the fourteen-year-old from Kenya who was studying Japanese. "She only launched in July, and one of her pilots is only eighteen."

"Wow." In six years, Mako might be ready to pilot a Jaeger? What a thought.

* * *

Mako's days were busy from then on. She joined the Robotics Club, where her classmates designed their yearly entries in competition based on the designs of the new Jaegers. Mako and Aaron were both a year too young to be formal members of the team, but once Mako showed off her understanding of metallurgy thanks to her father's swordmaking, and Aaron his skill with electronics, the older students happily christened them "junior members."

She spent most holidays and breaks in Hawaii with Tamsin. Sensei joined them whenever he was off-duty, or if he couldn't visit then, he always came to Pennsylvania so Mako could have a few days in town with him.

He grinned the broadest grin she'd ever seen when he surprised her the weekend before his planned arrival on November 1 and found her in the pirate costume that two of the girls taking fashion design had made as for her.

Liling squeaked in astonishment the first time she saw Sensei and Tamsin, recognizing them in a single glance. "Shh," said Dr. Schneider, but she was grinning.

* * *

_Summer 2018…_

Thanks to the advanced classes she'd been taking since being adopted by Sensei, Mako "graduated" middle school only a few months after her thirteenth birthday. Tamsin was in treatment again and could not attend, but Sensei did, and set her up with a Skype call. "_We're so proud of you, Mako," _Tamsin said. "_But if you get much farther ahead, you'll run out of things to study. Don't take any required classes this summer. Do something fun."_

Mako had been considering trying to wheedle her way into one of the summer maths workshops, just to see if she could keep up with the fifteen-year-olds. But even Sensei agreed with Tamsin. "There's more to life than work. Summer camp is meant to be fun, not an extension of the school year. If you and Liling pace yourselves, you will do better throughout school."

"But what if I start to forget things? Three months is a long time!"

Sensei looked as if he was trying hard not to laugh. "It will pass faster than you think, Mako-chan."

He was right. She didn't forget the quadratic formula or the difference between exothermic and endothermic reactions. (Well, it was possible that she and Liling pulled out their flashcards at night when they were supposed to be lights-out.) By the end of the summer, she could dance the Charleston, saddle up Ada without help, and finished testing with most of the martial arts dojos available at school so they could convert her Japanese rank to the American system. (She was at the beginner level for most of the Western forms of wrestling, but she ended up with purple belts in karate and judo, and already knew all of the basic katas.) The whole world was taking a renewed interest in the martial arts that Mako had learned from her father and the people who practiced with swords, since it was incorporated into the Jaeger Bushido.

Mako, Aaron, and Liling playfully competed over which of them could score the highest in their classes. Aaron was an undeniable genius when it came to maths; at age thirteen, he had a special exemption to take pre-calculus. Mako and Liling were just behind him in advanced geometry. Mako and Aaron were both starting computer-aided drafting, while Liling was starting biology a year early.

A few of the older students muttered that the administrators shouldn't let such young kids get _too _far ahead, but Mako, Liling, and Aaron certainly weren't the only ones who had "advanced beyond their age group," as Dr. Schneider put it. "It's amazing what children can do in the right learning environment," Mako heard Mrs. Giyoda say.

* * *

_Autumn 2018..._

Early in Mako's second year at Nittany Valley, a new student joined their class who didn't follow that trend. At least, not at first. His name was Matthew Davis, and he became Aaron's new roommate, but Aaron, Mako, and Liling had no classes with him. In fact, he was mostly in classes with students younger than he was.

"He's so sullen," huffed one of the older girls, sounding disapproving.

"Maybe he doesn't speak English well," Mako protested. During her first days at Nittany Valley, the teachers had badgered her to talk more.

The older girls rolled their eyes. "He's American, Mako. He only speaks English."

"Sort of. _Inner city _'English'." The snide chuckles made the hair rise on the back of Mako's neck, and she and Liling exchanged awkward glances. Some of the older girls who shared classes with them could get like that now and then. Dr. Schneider attributed it to hormones when they asked, though the teachers never hesitated to intervene when they thought there was bullying going on.

"That's a code," Aaron explained to them later, scowling. "It means he looks black and sounds black, so he's suspicious."

Mako stared. "But Eshe Lagat is black, and they like her."

"Eshe's the 'right kind' of black. Foreign with an exotic accent and rich people manners." Aaron was more than a year younger than Mako, but when he talked like this, the bitterness in his voice made him seem older.

Liling had noticed too. "You're not black. What's wrong with you? I mean, what do _they_ think is wrong?" They'd both noticed by now that some of the other kids seemed to turn up their noses at Aaron.

"I'm a New York Jew, and I look and sound like it," he answered. "That makes me trash to some people, no matter what my dad's done."

During Matthew's first week, Mako didn't have the chance to talk to him. She also couldn't help noticing that a few of the boys and girls who sometimes sat with her group decided to sit somewhere else the first day that Aaron brought Matthew to their table for lunch. He didn't talk much. In fact, unless one of them asked him something, he didn't talk at all.

It bothered Mako enough that she talked to Dr. Schneider about Matthew. "He seems very unhappy."

"Be patient. It can take some new students longer than others to adjust. I can't give you all the details, of course, but until now, Matthew lived in the same neighborhood and went to school with the same classmates all his life. He knew every teacher from school - often before he ever sat in their classes, and was never far from his family and their support group. Think back on your first days in the children's home in Tokyo. Even aside from losing your mother and father in such a terrible way, you told me in our first sessions that you felt like you'd gone to another world."

Mako nodded slowly. She had told Dr. Schneider and Sensei that during her first few days in the orphanage, she hadn't spoken a word. It wasn't that she had meant to be sullen or rude; it had felt almost as if something physically blocked off her voice. She'd known the words she wanted to say sometimes, things as simple as "thank you," but hadn't felt able to make her lips move. The prefects and administrators there had been kind and patient, but they'd had no less than forty new boys and girls to settle in and care for in the aftermath of Onibaba.

Even if Matthew didn't have the horror of death and smoke and roaring monsters weighing down his mind, maybe he still felt as lost and muted as she had. She'd cried herself to sleep for weeks, wanting to go home so badly that it felt like a knot twisting in her chest, and knowing she could never go home again.

How did Matthew feel knowing that home was still there, his friends and his family still there, but all of them carrying on without him? Exiled? Abandoned?

Sometimes Matthew did seem almost angry. Maybe that was understandable too.

During her free period one afternoon a few days later, the weather was fine, and she strolled down to the stables. The horses were in high spirits, especially Einstein, who was chasing a couple of the little kids' ponies over the brown grass. Matthew was leaning on the fence, watching them romp with a fascinated expression.

"I didn't know horses could do that," he exclaimed. Einstein's dancing was better suited to a Disney movie than the real world.

Mako grinned. "They like to play. Especially Einstein."

"He's Aaron's, right?"

"They all belong to the school, but he's Aaron's favorite." Matthew's eyes widened a little as Ada came trotting over to the fence, snorting at Mako. "This is Ada. You can pet her. She's nice." She scratched the silky gray nose, and Matthew hesitantly joined in. "We go for rides on Tuesday and Friday. You should come."

"I don't know how to ride horses," Matthew said, but he looked sorry for that as he petted Ada more confidently.

"Neither did I, until I came here. They'll teach you. It's fun."

Matthew looked dubious, but he didn't refuse. "Where'd you live before?"

"Tangeshima." Seeing his blank look, she added, "It's part of Japan, one of the smaller islands. After - after my parents died, I did not go back. Sensei took me from a children's home."

"Sensei?"

"It means teacher. It's what I call him. He adopted me after Onibaba."

Matthew nodded, thoughtful. "Aaron said you and Liling came from the PPDC scholarships too. My mama's a R - I mean, she's in the PPDC too. They wouldn't let me stay with my grandma anymore. Stupid reporters were staking out our place and following me to school."

"That's terrible." Mako scowled. Ada huffed, as if in agreement, and she smiled. They resumed petting the horse. "I miss Sensei too. But we talk on the network, and he sends for me at holidays."

"Aaron keeps saying I'll get used to it." For the first time, Mako could see real sadness on his face, maybe fear too. It was like he'd taken off a mask he'd been wearing. He kept his eyes on Ada, running his fingertips up and down her silver-gray nose. "Everyone's happy here."

"We all get homesick," Mako told him softly. "It can help to keep busy."

Matthew shook his head, but he smiled at Ada, patting her cheek. "All this stuff they give us to do. All these activities. I'd be busy the rest of my life trying it all." He shrugged. "I hadn't even made up my mind yet, but I guess I better get started."

"Well, what do you like to do for fun?" Mako prompted. "I saw you during your tour of the gym and the dojo. Do you play sports? Or martial arts?"

"Yeah, but, not like you all do here. I don't know the rules."

Mako shrugged. "When I came here, neither did I. I still don't know all the American rules. The rules are changing, too."

"How're they changing?"

"To be more like Jaeger Bushido. Everyone wants to be like Rangers."

Matthew grinned, as if that gratified him.

* * *

On Sunday, Matthew seemed gratified again when Mako and Liling invited him to join their group outing into State College. He only hesitated because Aaron couldn't come. "Go on, it's fine," Aaron told him. "You don't have to hang around just 'cause I'm in detention."

Once they were in the school van, Liling demanded, "What did he do?"

Matthew visibly tried and failed to keep from laughing. "You know that high-tech talking ice cream machine in the cafeteria?"

The girls nodded. It had startled Mako the first time it announced in a robotic female voice, "_Starting. Batch. Vanilla. Ice cream. Ten. Minutes_." The little kids always cheered when they heard it, because it means dessert was on its way. Some of the robotics students had decided it was a junior Jaeger and nicknamed it _Confection Dispenser. _

"Aaron reprogrammed it to start playing _My Milkshake_ whenever the cooks turn it on, and they haven't figured out how to make it stop."

Mako and Liling shrieked with laughter. Farrah, sitting up front next to the driver, tried to maintain her decorum as the trip chaperon. "Yes, that's very funny, but the administrators shouldn't have to spend time explaining to the parents of first-graders why their children learned that song." But Mako could see the way her lips were twitching, and Liling wasn't fooled either.

The main purpose of the outing was for Farrah and Aisha could take the Muslim students to attend an outreach meeting at the Islamic Center near the university. Mako, Liling, and Matthew were proud to have been pronounced old enough (and trustworthy) to explore town on their own for a few hours, especially amid all the excitement of a local football game. They didn't share some of their classmates' passion for American football, but the energy of town, the people wearing their team colors and waving flags, the smell of cooking food, and the songs and dances were infectious.

They had just enough time to walk down the main street in the town to the stadium and wove through the tailgate parties outside, eating hamburgers and fried chicken for lunch from the booths and food trucks. They recognized some of the older students and faculty in the gatherings that would go into the stadium to watch the game, and waved or stopped to chat.

Mako and Liling were unnerved when some _much _older boys started calling them "baby" and inviting them to a party, but one of the senior girls from Robotics was with them and announced, "They're _thirteen_! Leave them alone!"

The house parents had given everyone a safety talk before they were given permission to wander town alone. They knew not to go into any parties or houses, or accept any food or drinks that they hadn't bought themselves, or get into cars with strangers. "_The more people drink in a college town, the more likely they are to be inappropriate. If someone bothers you, walk away, or shout for help if they try to stop you._"

Outside the stadium, the older girls considered the beer flowing at the parties around them and told Mako, Liling, and Matthew, "You three go on back to the Islamic Center. Traffic and the crowds are getting busier, and they'll finish up soon. It'll be less chaotic there."

The three of them obeyed, and apart from catcalls at Mako and Liling from groups of boys and men on their way to the stadium, they had no further trouble. By the time they got back to the Islamic Center and were sifting through the crowd coming out in search of Farrah and Aisha, most of the sports fans had made their way to the stadium, so they assumed all risk of trouble had passed.

That assumption ended as they threaded the edges of the crowd and suddenly came upon a clutch of men, most of them older than college students, snarling at a lone police officer who was trying to shoo them away. A group of reporters were very interested in them.

" - protesters here against the proposed expansion of the Islamic Center!"

"We don't need more mosques giving ISIS a foothold in the US! Y'all need to go back and fix your own countries first!"

"This is the reason we got sea monsters attacking the West Coast!"

That startled Mako enough to make her pause, and she turned to see Matthew and Liling looking equally baffled. "They think ISIS caused the kaiju?" Liling muttered.

Matthew shrugged. "There's all kinds of crazy conspiracy theorists at protests. C'mon, let's get outta here and find your house moms before they run into these jerks."

They slipped past another pair of policemen who were hurrying towards the protesters, and finally spotted Farrah's orange and gold hijab through the crowd. Mako didn't understand how anyone could think Farrah or the other Muslim girls and women were somehow oppressed by their headscarves. Farrah collected scarves for her hair the same way other girls collected shoes or handbags - she had one to go with every outfit she wore, in beautiful colors and patterns. Dyeing silk was her hobby, and many of the women and girls at Nittany Valley Prep had scarves and sashes she'd made. Today, for the meeting, she was wearing a deep orange scarf with a brooch that had belonged to her grandmother.

"There you are!" She cheerfully waved Mako, Liling, and Matthew over. "Right on time. Did you have fun?"

"Yes, but it was very crowded," said Liling. Despite having lived in Hong Kong, she wasn't comfortable in crowds.

"Crowds turn out in nice weather like today," said Farrah. "Let's find a place where the driver can pick us up."

"Not that way!" Matthew exclaimed as she started to usher them towards the curb. "There's protesters."

The men who'd been protesting weren't visible in the crowd, but Mako suspected they were still there. Farrah scowled in that direction, and she and Aisha elected to lead their group towards the side streets rather than the busy main road. Mako and Liling dutifully joined in with corralling the four younger girls from third and fifth grade, while Farrah was on her cell phone coordinating their pickup with the driver, who was still dodging traffic.

The four men approaching in logoed T-shirts didn't attract any notice; they were younger than the men who'd been protesting out front, and weren't holding any signs. Mako assumed they were just students until one of them nearly collided with Farrah.

"Watch it! Who're you on the phone with, bitch? Your sleeper cell in Iran?"

"Hey!" Startled, Farrah dropped her phone, but rather than pick it up, turned her attention to pushing the younger girls toward Aisha. One of the men kicked the phone, and Mako instinctively ran to get it. She reached it before anyone else and as she straightened up, Farrah was glaring daggers at the men, motioning the group away. "Come on, we're leaving."

"So how'd your meeting go? Did you pass Sharia law?" The man who'd kicked the phone brushed past Mako, and she smelled alcohol again. He didn't even notice her, but the way he loomed over Farrah was scary. "What's under your burka, baby? A bomb?"

Farrah backed away from him only to bump into one of the other men. Shouts rang out, and as she turned around, the man who'd kicked her phone reached out and grabbed her hijab. She screamed as he tore it, sending the brooch flying. The men were jeering about terrorist camps, Aisha was pulling the younger girls back, people were yelling, but Mako was moving forward without even realizing it.

Mako's heart hammered, blood roared in her ears, and she bellowed, "GIVE IT BACK!"

"Help, someone, help!"

"Damn terrorists!" The man who'd attacked Farrah still had her scarf in his hand, too busy laughing at her where she'd fallen. Farrah was on the ground, her brooch in her hand, but there was a streak of blood on her face - the man had _hurt _her! "Welcome to America, bitch!"

Then Mako slammed her fist into his ear. He let out a howl of shock, his balance gone, and pitched over. "What the f-" One of the other men lunged for Mako only to end up with Matthew Davis on his back, slamming punches into his ribcage.

The part of Mako not consumed with adrenaline realized that Matthew did know some martial arts. He bore the second man to the ground as Mako liberated Farrah's hijab from the first, who was still in a fetal position with a hand over his ear.

It was all chaos and flying fists then, with bigger opponents than Mako had ever seen, but she was so angry that it didn't matter at all. How dare they! How dare they harass strangers on the street and rip clothing off Farrah! They knew nothing about her religion or her country! She dodged grasping hands and kicked another advancing man in the groin before he could get Matthew from behind. She might be smaller, but she knew how to make men fall down.

The last man standing had a knife. Liling was screaming, other people were screaming, someone was yelling, "No, they're kids, THEY'RE KIDS!" but Mako didn't think. He wasn't pointing it at her; he was looking at Matthew. She lunged and seized his wrist, twisting it in a move that she had always been warned to use with care in practice. This was not practice. The _crack _under her hand sent a queasy pulse through her, but the knife fell to the ground, and its owner went backwards, clutching his arm and screaming.

Lights flashed, and Mako whirled, looking around for new enemies, but all four men were still on the ground, and suddenly Liling and Aisha were in front of her, shouting incomprehensibly at the police officers now converging on them. "Those men did it, those men did it!"

Farrah, her black hair mussed and her face still bleeding, bodily blocked Matthew while pulling Mako with one hand. "They're students!"

"Okay, okay, everybody take it easy!" To Mako's dazed relief, the uniformed woman in the lead didn't point a gun at anyone, though she had a baton out. "Break it up!"

Neither the policewoman nor the policemen seized Mako, though they were harsh with the four men on the ground. As Mako's heart began to slow, she took in a wall of people on the sidewalk around them, many shouting explanations and pointing angry fingers - mostly at the men, not at Mako and Matthew or Farrah. Many others were aiming cell phones and cameras.

She looked at Matthew, who had ended up at her side behind Aisha and Liling, and gulped. "I... I think we're in trouble."

**_To Be Continued..._**

**_Coming Soon: _**_Stacker Pentecost deals with the fallout from Mako's street brawl and commiserates with others on the trials and tribulations of long-distance parenting. Mako and her friends careen through young love, driver's ed, teen trends, and life plans in __**Chapter Eight: The Kids Are All Nuts!**_

**PLEASE don't forget to review!**

**Original Character Guide**

Dr. Tanja Schneider: A child psychologist hired by Stacker Pentecost to provide therapy for Mako during her first years in his care. Now a staff counselor at Nittany Valley Preparatory Academy. British of German ancestry, late 40s.

Liling Gáo: Mako's roommate, same age as Mako, born and raised in Hong Kong, China, granddaughter of General He Liang, who is commanding officer of the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Her family moved to the inland United States in 2016 after Reckoner, and she was enrolled along with a younger cousin at Nittany Valley Prep.

Aaron Schoenfeld: Jasper Schoenfeld's son, a year younger than Mako.

Matthew Davis: son of Ranger Tanisha Davis, pilot of US Mark-2 Yankee Star (an original Jaeger character). Mako's age, living with Tanisha's mother in Los Angeles until she reluctantly relocated him to the higher-security Nittany Valley Prep to protect him from media harassment. How that came about is covered in Chapter 34 of Aurora Borealis.

Farrah Darzi and Aisha Brown: Mako and Liling's "house mothers" at Nittany Valley Prep. Early 20s, Farrah is Saudi Arabian and Aisha is African-American. Both graduated Nittany Valley Prep and stayed on while pursuing higher education to mentor younger students.

Eshe Lagat: One of Mako's housemates, a year older than Mako, Kenyan national, studying Japanese.

Mrs. Giyoda: Senior administrator at Nittany Valley Prep in charge of female students. Japanese-American in her 60s.


	8. The Kids Are All Nuts

_**Author's Notes:**__ Many thanks to you all for your reviews and critique, and also for your patience! This concludes my headcanon for Mako's adventures in boarding school - and Stacker's adventures in parenting, with much commentary from Tamsin. Also, the book referenced that Stacker consults for explaining the birds and the bees doesn't exist.  
_

**Chapter Eight: The Kids Are All Nuts**

_November 11, 2018…_

**_Future Rangers of America!_**

_The tween son of American Ranger Tanisha Davis and adopted daughter of former Ranger Stacker Pentecost, now a PPDC Marshal, were caught on camera in a political brawl Sunday in State College, Pennsylvania! Sources report that Matthew Davis, 13, and Mako Mori, 13, are students at Nittany Valley Preparatory Academy, an exclusive, internationally recognized boarding school that has extended its scholarship program to children of PPDC personnel. Mori is better known to the public as Tokyo's Daughter, captured in a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph in the wreckage of Tokyo after Jaeger Coyote Tango, then piloted by Pentecost, destroyed the kaiju Onibaba. Tanisha Davis is pilot of American Mark-2 Jaeger Yankee Star._

_Eyewitnesses report that Mori and Davis were part of a group from Nittany Valley Prep that appeared to have attended the Islamic Center Outreach of Faith event, chaperoned by faculty member Farrah Darzi. Darzi, 23, is a Saudi Arabian Muslim who graduated Nittany Valley Prep in 2011 and Penn State University in 2015. _

_As the group left the Islamic Center, they were confronted by protesters who pulled off Darzi's headscarf and threw her to the ground. Much to the shock of onlookers, the attackers, who are not Penn State students or alumni, were set upon by Davis and Mori, and in a matter of minutes, all four men were on the ground. "It was like something out of Karate Kid," one bystander reported. "Those two little kids beat the s*** out of four grown men!"_

_There are conflicting reports on whether any of the combatants were armed. Some say a knife was seen, others reported that one or more of the men threw rocks or bottles. Police interviewed Mori and Davis, and released the pair without charges. The four assailants, Jed Porter, 24, Buddy McFee, 31, Donald Jackson, 19, and Ned Burton, 27, were arrested and charged with assault and battery, and the federal authorities are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. McFee, Jackson, and Burton were booked at the Centre County Jail, while Porter was treated first at Mount Nittany Medical Center for a broken wrist._

_Darzi was treated and released by the Main Street Walk-in Clinic for a cut to her face, which required stitches. _

_Neither the PPDC press office nor the media liaisons for Yankee Star, nor Lima Shatterdome, which Pentecost commands, had any comment._

* * *

Stacker endured the most awkward video call of his career three days later.

He actually considered contacting Tanisha Davis beforehand, to hear her thoughts on the matter and consider bringing a united front. Tamsin favored that, but in the end, he decided to wait. "A united front would be necessary if we had an adversary, but we shouldn't think that way. The school may have discipline in mind, but I won't oppose that if they think it's warranted. Mako did start it."

"_She did _not _start it!" _Tamsin actually hit the holocam. "_Those bigoted thugs looking for a hijabi girl to harass started it! You'd have done exactly the same in Mako's shoes, so would I, and I'd hazard a guess, so would Tanisha Davis!_"

"I _know, _Tam. I know that, I do. I misspoke. My concern is that the school may discipline Mako for escalating the fight rather than calling for help. What if that punk had been quicker with his knife, or the policemen had been less honest? Matthew Davis might have paid the price."

That brought Tamsin up sharp. "_They'll not try to blame him alone. You're right - it was Mako of the kids who got involved first. Matthew went to defend her_."

"We've all seen the videos. They disarmed the attackers, although with more righteous rage than control." A chuckle escaped Stacker... then he paused as a lightbulb went on in his head. "As for how I personally should address it with Mako, I think I know."

It was still a tense video conference with the senior faculty and Dr. Schneider before the young miscreants could be brought before the camera to face their parents' justice. "_How've they been since?_" Tanisha Davis asked. "_Not defiant, I hope_."

Dr. Schneider shook her head. "_Not at all, Ranger. In fact, I asked that we talk separately because...ahem... I believe Matthew is very frightened_."

Stacker stiffened, and from her quarters in Los Angeles Shatterdome, so did Tanisha. "_Did he say what of?_" she asked.

"_Not in so many words. He's afraid he's branded himself a thug, and broken a promise to you. Marshal, Mako is aware at least in theory of the dangers Matthew could face even from the lawful authorities. She's distraught, convinced she put him in harm's way_."

Stacker took a deep breath. Tanisha was quiet too as she digested it all. _What a filthy world we inhabit that such fears are justified. _"What are your intentions on discipline?" he asked. "What is warranted?"

Mrs. Giyoda said hesitantly, "_Our records will not have a disciplinary entry. We don't believe that's warranted for either of them. Mako and Matthew intervened against bullying when authority figures themselves were under attack, although they did show over-aggression. I'm ordering counseling and anger management for both of them, and problem-solving training_."

"I'm very pleased by that," said Stacker. He looked at Tanisha. "May we talk in private for a moment? I've thought of an additional change we could make in both their routines that could be to their benefit."

Relieved, if curious, the school administrators said, "_We'll wait for you to rejoin the call then_."

Tanisha tilted her head at Stacker once they'd signed off. "_You're thinking some kind of community service, sir?_"

"While discussing Mako or Matthew, rank doesn't apply," he told her. "I was thinking from that video, both of our charges could benefit from greater training in self-control. Even in combat situations."

That got him a famously rare full-on smile from Tanisha. Her conspiratorial grin reminded Stacker of Luna. "_Matty's got some MMA training, but nothing really formal. I know he's interested in the martial arts they teach at Nittany Valley, but it's a lot more regimented than what he used to learn at the community center. He was intimidated already, so I didn't push. But I bet he'd do well_."

"Mako is a disciplined girl, and channels her energy into her work, but Dr. Schneider warned me years ago that she'll have a powerful temper. In some ways, this could feed her revenge ambition."

_"And give her years to develop drift compatibility with a kindred spirit,_" Tanisha added. Stacker kept a neutral expression; the other Ranger couldn't know of his misgivings on that subject, and he saw no reason to tell her. She pondered the implications only for a moment before shrugging. "_I told him if he wants to go for Academy, he's got my blessing, but if he doesn't want to, he's still got my blessing. But if this boarding school of theirs can train him not to shut down _or _lash out when he's mad, I'm happy."_

So they had a plan. After rejoining the conference with Nittany Valley, Stacker was torn between wanting to laugh and aching to embrace his girl as she and Matthew came shamefaced before the camera. Mako recognized Tanisha instantly, and looked still more miserable.

"_I'm sorry, Mama,_" Matthew murmured.

"_It wasn't his fault, R-Ranger,_" Mako pleaded. "_Please, it was mine."_

"_Mako, Matthew_," Mrs. Giyoda interrupted, and they fell silent, as if waiting for the axe to drop. "_You're not here to be punished. You were trying to protect Farrah from attackers; we know that. So do the police. That's why they didn't punish you either. We've discussed this with your parents and worked out ways to teach you better coping skills with stressful situations - and ugly people_."

Now the pair were just confused. The decree of anger management counseling didn't surprise them, but Matthew looked a little frantic when his house brother informed him they were both now on the martial arts curriculum. "_You... want us to fight _more_?"_

_"Part of true combat training, especially true martial arts, is learning control and recognizing when not to fight. Or how to de-escalate a crisis. You'll both benefit from that."_

Neither teen was able to wrap their mind around the concept that they were not, in fact, being raked over the coals. _Like father, like daughter. Or maybe aunt. _For the thousandth time, Stacker wished Luna had lived to know Mako. He and Tamsin had told Mako many stories about Luna, and showed her pictures, but he couldn't help fantasizing (and knew Tamsin did also) about what Luna's reaction would have been. They both suspected Luna would have been taken with her.

* * *

_Christmas 2018..._

By the time Mako joined Stacker and Tamsin in Hawaii for the holidays, Stacker had something weightier on his mind.

"She'll be fourteen in January, Stacks," Tamsin told him sternly. "You can't delay any longer. It's time you gave her The Talk."

He cringed as if he were thirteen himself. "I don't see why it's so necessary that I be the one to do it. It would be far less awkward for her if it came from a woman."

His co-pilot was unmoved. "Of course, it'll be awkward - and you're more worried that _you'll _die of embarrassment, so don't hand me a line that you're only worried for her sake. But you're the one who adopted her, not me. She'll probably hear from other women among the school faculty, but she needs to her from her parent, and that's you, full stop. "

_Damn. _

So not long after he collected Mako for the Christmas holidays, after the initial recap of their semester and reassurance that she and Matthew Davis were doing well in their new classes, Stacker gritted his teeth and sat her down.

She was as attentive and respectful as ever, while it was all Stacker could do to not squirm. He managed to keep his voice steady, but damned if his palms didn't sweat as he carefully recited a speech that he shamelessly plagiarized from The Most Important Talk: A Guide for Single Fathers of Daughters to Explain Issues Surrounded Sex.

At first, Mako was unflustered, but as he got into the, er, more _biological _details, her face gradually turned deeper and deeper red, and the color soon spread all the way into her hairline. Remarkably, she maintained eye contact the entire time. The part of Stacker not melting from mortification was quite proud of her.

It actually did get easier when that part ended, and he was able to explain his own opinions and values. "I have absolutely no intention of forbidding you from experiencing dating or romantic relationships with boys - or girls," he amended it hastily. "You're already old enough, and more than mature enough, to take part in school dances and other events with more than just your friends. I do expect you to obey the school rules about being alone with boys or having intimate contact with other girls until you reach the appropriate ages."

Despite still being flushed, Mako nodded gravely. "We're allowed to go out and have dates, but the curfews are very strict for everyone younger than sixteen. Tamsin told me about age of consent."

Stacker managed - barely - to keep a straight face. "She did? What did she tell you?"

"She told me why the rules for students under sixteen are so important, because it's also the law. And, well, everything else you were telling me about...boys and girls. She explained all that." Mako faltered in dismay. "Is that all right?"

_I...will...kill...Tamsin. _"Of course, it's all right. You and Tamsin are free to talk about any subject you wish and are comfortable with. I'm very happy you also had her to explain these things." _I will KILL her._

* * *

_November 2019..._

Stacker would never admit it to Tamsin (_that conniving little minx!) _but in the following year, as Mako spent more and more time with Aaron Schoenfeld and Matthew Davis - and grew prettier every time he saw her - he was glad that he'd made sure she knew where he stood on the issues of dating and sex.

"_She has a _date _to the autumn dance!_" Tamsin gleefully informed him when they were planning their travel schedules for the 2019 holiday season.

Stacker was determined not to let her get a reaction out of him after she'd played him into that excruciating talk, and kept his voice neutral. "I see. Who is it?"

_"She won't say. I think she's nervous._"

"Hm. I assume it's a fellow student, or at least someone vetted by the faculty if they're attending the school event, so there's hardly a reason for her to be afraid to say who he is," Stacker mused.

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "_She's fourteen. If she didn't get irrationally skittish about something, I'd start to worry. And boys are a particularly stressful subject, especially if there's one she's interested in." _She gave Stacker a sly smile through the holocam. "_By the way, I've sent her some money towards her dress budget._"

He refused to take the bait. "That's a lovely idea. I'll add to it myself."

It simply worked out that Stacker's flight was to arrive the weekend after the dance. Tamsin promptly started scolding him on the vidcomm. _"Don't you dare start intimidating her date!_"

"I have no intention of doing any such thing! What do you think, that I'll bring a shotgun?"

_"Knowing you? Possibly. You're incapable of being subtle."_

"You're confusing me with my sister," he retorted. "She was the one who charged into everything with guns blazing. And I'm arriving on the first day permitted for parent pick-up. I'd like to maximize the time we spend with Mako, and that means traveling before the American Thanksgiving holiday traffic starts up."

Of course, Tamsin didn't believe him, but he was hardly the only parent who arrived on that date. In fact, he encountered Tanisha Davis on his connecting flight. "Is your son joining you for Thanksgiving?"

"Every year. _And_ this year I promised him a trip to Yellowstone if he met all his academic goals, and he beat them, so now I have to take him camping."

Stacker smiled at her put-upon tone. "Surely it's a pleasant break to be outside the cities."

"Yeah, but I like beds and flushing toilets. Camping is more Caleb's thing, and he got Matty into it. He's meeting us there."

"Ah. I wouldn't mind camping, but _my_ co-pilot prefers meddling with Mako's love life. She had a date to the autumn dance and wouldn't tell me who it was."

Tanisha smirked. "Yeah, my mama thinks Matty went with someone, but he's being all secretive about..." Suddenly, she trailed off. She and Stacker eyed each other. "You think?!"

All tales were told once they arrived at the school. The parents were given the customary tour and review of their children's activities, and it came as no surprise to Stacker or Tanisha that Mako and Matthew spent a great deal of time together. They were usually accompanied by Mako's roommate Liling and several of Matthew's housemates, including Aaron Schoenfeld, but Mako and Matthew seemed especially awkward at meeting each other's parents in person. Towards Liling and Aaron's mothers, they were enthusiastic.

When Stacker spotted the wall of pictures from the 2019 Autumn Ball, he had to struggle not to grin as Mako tried to steer him away from it - especially when he saw Matthew Davis frantically trying to do the same with Tanisha.

"I want to see the dress you picked out," he told his girl blithely. Past Matthew, Tanisha shot him a sly look.

They reached the bulletin board at the same time while their charges cringed in the background. "Yep," Tanisha murmured.

Mako was on the arm of Matthew Davis, both of them looking quite elegant. Without turning around, Stacker said quietly to Tanisha, "So... I suppose we should come to an understanding."

"I'll make you a deal: I won't threaten yours if you won't threaten mine."

"Done and done." And neither one of them dared turn around for several minutes, because they were both imagining the look of terror on their offspring's faces, and if they actually saw it, they would both break up laughing.

Stacker did text Tamsin: _Matthew Davis was her date._

_I KNEW it! Caleb Mitchell and I were both betting on it!_

He showed Tamsin's response to Tanisha at the first opportunity, and she growled, "I'm gonna kill my co-pilot."

"I'll murder yours if you'll murder mine."

No co-pilots' blood was shed, and neither Mako nor Matthew died of embarrassment or terror over the holidays. Stacker and Tanisha began communicating more often via IM and email, where their written messages rarely portrayed the glee they actually felt. Mako and Matthew steadfastly denied that they were "going out" for months. And Stacker and Tanisha steadfastly pretended that they weren't enjoying every minute of it.

* * *

_January 2021…_

The former pilots of Coyote Tango just happened to visit Los Angeles Shatterdome, where Yankee Star was stationed, early in 2021. By chance, that happened to be the spring that their respective children were first eligible to attend prom. If they spent several off-hours evenings at restaurants with the pilots of Yankee Star, well, the four of them were colleagues. There were no cameras around to record that there was far more gossip going on than Jaeger Program shop talk.

The first time Stacker ever heard Tanisha Davis laugh out loud was when he grumbled complaints at her about how much it cost to dress a girl up for a formal dance. "Really, you have no idea what parents of daughters go through."

"Ain't you heard? With boys, you've only got to worry about one penis. With girls - "

" - every penis in the country," Tamsin finished in chorus with her, and the two women burst into cackling laughter.

Stacker pointed at his co-pilot, shooting Yankee Star's pilots a disgusted look. "You see how all she does is stand on the sidelines and jeer at my efforts to be an involved parent?"

Caleb promptly high-fived Tamsin. And by the end of that night, they joined forces and talked Stacker and Tanisha into doubling their offspring's respective prom budgets.

* * *

_March 2021…_

The school counselors and Dr. Schneider, as well as all the literature Stacker had studied, focused a great deal on concepts of "closure" for children who'd experienced trauma. "This is something that children seek without even knowing the words for it. It takes many difference forms: revenge, vindication, validation, full circle. Adults want it too: that secret formula for life that will make the pain of the past finally ease."

So Stacker understood why Mako focused so intensely on preparing for the Jaeger Academy, and the chance to go into combat against the kaiju. "For my family," she always said.

She and her circle of friends looked at piloting Jaegers as a shared goal. They would take on the world, the Academy, and then the kaiju as a team, like so many of their parents had done before them.

Growing up meant recognizing that some youthful dreams simply were not to be. Mid-way through Mako's third year at Nittany Valley Prep, Liling Gáo – and Mako along with her - finally had to face that Liling's severe asthma would never allow her the physical fitness necessary to train as a Jaeger pilot

Stacker and Tamsin consoled Mako, and helped her console Liling. "_She's worked so hard," _Mako lamented. "_P.E. and training is so difficult for her, and she uses her inhalers and gets shots every week, and still it isn't enough! It's not fair!"_

_"_The world isn't a fair place, Mako-chan," Stacker told her, wishing (as he so often did) that he could reach through the webcam to embrace her. "It would make us all happier if people could always have what they work hard for, but reality is more complicated. Liling is a girl of many talents. She can still contribute to the war effort in many ways. It would be cruel to let her think that she is useless without being able to run a mile without stopping or do a requisite number of push-ups."

It took a few extra sessions with the counselors for both girls to come to grips with the fact that their dream of co-piloting a Jaeger would not come true. Gradually, they did come to refocus on Liling's other abilities, and neither Stacker nor Tamsin were surprised by the outcome: Liling had a gift for biology, and her fascination with K-Science was a natural extension of it.

And Mako wasn't left without prospects. The longer they were classmates – not to mention dating – the more Stacker suspected that there was a real possibility that she would prove drift compatible with Tanisha Davis's son.

* * *

_May 15, 2021..._

_PPDC Internal Network  
SPentecost: Online  
TDavis: Online_

_TDavis: The world is coming to an end. We're all going to die._

_SPentecost: I didn't expect you to be that distraught over Matthew and Mako breaking up._

_TDavis: Does this sound like worrying about love lives to you, Stacker?! This is fucking serious - he's taking driver's ed in June!_

_SPentecost: Now I understand. Mako's taking it too. God help us all._

* * *

_June 25, 2021..._

_PPDC Internal Network  
TSevier: Online  
SPentecost: Online_

_SPentecost: I've seen the pictures from Driver Education "graduation."_

_TSevier: Aren't they adorable?_

_SPentecost: This was your doing, wasn't it?_

_TSevier: I have no idea what you're talking about!_

_SPentecost: Shouldn't she have had parent permission to dye her hair?_

_TSevier: Only if it was permanent dye, which it wasn't. Temporary hair dye is a fad for the summer classes, it seems._

_SPentecost: So you DID know about it, you meddlesome fiend!_

_TSevier: Her hair looks cute with blue streaks!_

_TDavis: Online  
CMitchell: Online_

_TDavis: Stacker, what the hell is my son doing running around Pennsylvania with green hair?!_

_SPentecost: Thirty minutes ago was the first I knew of it. Blame my bloody co-pilot._

_TDavis: Your daughter is a bad influence on my kid._

_TSevier: Now just a bloody minute! I happen to know the whole thing was the Schoenfeld boy's idea!_

_TDavis: How'd you know that?_

_TSevier: Offline_

_SPentecost: Tam is a coward. And Mitchell, if I find out you had anything to do with this, I'll get Yankee Star transferred to Vladivostok._

_CMitchell: Jesus, you send a boy some hair dye so he doesn't feel left out of the hot trends, and suddenly you're public enemy number one!_

_CMitchell: Offline_

_TDavis: Caleb just ran out of the room, damn traitor. I signed up for a co-pilot and got a co-parent._

_SPentecost: Welcome to my world. So now what? It seems rather silly to contact the school and demand they make the children take the dye out of their hair._

_TDavis: Yeah, Matty keeps reminding me it'll all be gone after six washes. Give them an inch and they take a continent. They learn to drive, then they're running around with green hair._

_SPentecost: Or blue. Granted, it is summer. Loosening up is to be expected, but I shudder to think we'll see nothing but green and blue hair in every picture until they move on to some other ridiculous clothing fad._

_TDavis: No kidding, especially when we have to pick them up next week._

_SPentecost:…_

_TDavis: You still there?_

_SPentecost: I have...a rather creative idea of how to nudge this along._

_TDavis: Creative?_

_SPentecost: I have the contact information for most of the parents in Mako's circle of friends. Do you happen to have any of Matthew's?_

_TDavis: A few. Why?_

_SPentecost: I have a plan._

* * *

_July 1, 2021…_

Mako suspected that as soon as the summer holidays began, Sensei would insist she take the blue streaks out of her hair. She would obey his instructions while she lived at home and, well, if he insisted that she no longer dye her hair at school, she would respect that. Though she would be sorry not to try out the other colors that one of the older girls had found at a local costume shop.

She and Matty had gotten over their post-breakup awkwardness, mostly. It didn't hurt that after prom, neither of them had been so emotionally invested in being boyfriend and girlfriend, so the end of dating each other had been amicable. Matty was now going out with one of the girls a year older than Mako, and if that stung Mako's pride a bit, well, it was also a matter of pride not to let it seem like she was bothered.

Liling and some of the other girls thought Mako should find a boy to kiss where Matty would see her, and she actually considered it, but in the end, decided that would just be ridiculous. Why kiss someone if she didn't actually want a kiss? So she shrugged it off and acted friendly to Matty's new girlfriend, and the whole group gradually eased their tensions during the Great Driver's Ed Graduation Hair-Dyeing Party.

"My mom's gonna make me wash it out as soon as I get off the plane," Aaron pouted. He was sporting candy apple red in his black hair.

"My mama's seen the pictures, but she hasn't said anything yet," Matthew said.

"Nor has Sensei. Tamsin said it was pretty," said Mako.

Liling had banana yellow in her hair. "My mother likes mine."

"Your mom's actually cool," Aaron said.

Farrah Darzi and Mrs. Giyoda were overseeing the departures from the summer driver education program. The kids were all hanging out in the gym, practicing the last katas they'd learned for the year or just playing on their phones, when the two teachers burst into near-shrieks of laughter at the front door.

Startled, Matthew looked up. "What's so funny?!" Farrah and Mrs. Giyoda were laughing so hard they could barely stand up.

Aaron got up and went to investigate, nudging brazenly between the two women to peer out the door... then he staggered backwards in shock. "Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Oh my... what the _frag_... oh my god..."

"What's the matter with you?" Mako demanded. Aaron just grabbed the sides of his head and went sprinting for the opposite set of gym doors.

"Hey, son, is that any way to greet your dad after six months?!" The familiar figure of Dr. Jasper Schoenfeld strode into the room - and all activity from the student body ceased.

Dr. Schoenfeld's hair was pink.

Everyone was still staring, and Farrah and Mrs. Giyoda were still giggling, when Liling's mother and father came in sporting streaks of green in their hair. Liling nearly fell over in shock, and Matty and Mako were still processing the sight when Matty's mother came in.

Ranger Tanisha Davis, the somber right-hand pilot of Yankee Star, had orange hair.

"...no...way," Matty breathed.

Nearly every parent arriving had colored hair, and those who didn't were grinning. Mako quickly processed that Sensei should be coming in, but her stern father would _never..._

PPDC Marshal Stacker Pentecost walked in, as calm as ever, and looked puzzled at the way Mako stared at his purple hair in disbelief. "What? It comes out in a few washes."

* * *

Every parent with whom Stacker and Tanisha conspired exchanged gleeful congratulations at the downright-diabolical plan they had hatched to end the Nittany Valley Prep hair-dyeing fad in one fell swoop.

It worked.

And if Stacker had to spend approximately four hours in the shower of the hotel room before leaving for Hawaii just to get through the requisite six washes to return his hair color to normal, well, it was worth it.

* * *

_Spring 2022…_

There was no reason that Matthew Davis could not have passed the screening tests and first cut at the Jaeger Academy. Out of all of Mako's friends, he showed the best aptitude for Jaeger Bushido. Academically, despite starting at school well behind most students his age, he caught up and soon exceeded many of them, and graduated with the same class as Mako at age seventeen.

He was a strong athlete who ranked high in martial arts competitions all over the state and the northeast US. He practiced with Mako so often that they could fight each other to a standstill. Both of their parents suspected that they would be drift compatible.

There was just one problem, which Mako had more difficulty accepting than Liling Gáo's health problems or Aaron Schoenfeld's age: Matthew Davis didn't want to be Jaeger pilot.

"But your mother's a Ranger," she protested when he finally confessed that he didn't want to apply to the Academy.

"Yeah, I know. You know I'm proud of my mama, and Caleb. He's the only dad I ever had. They're the best in the world. But..." Matty avoided her eyes as they sat on a bench opposite the stables. "When they deploy... I thought I'd get used to it, but I never do. I feel sick. I wish I couldn't watch. Every time a pilot dies, that could be my mama and Caleb."

"It would feel different when you're in control," Mako said. Her heart was sinking. She'd been counting on being able to persuade him, even if in the back of her mind, she'd sensed his lack of enthusiasm a long time ago. "You love fighting competitions!"

"Yeah, but fighting kaiju inside a giant robot's not anything like that!" Matthew exclaimed. "I've been up in Yankee Star's conn-pod - it's _scary, _Mako! It's small and it's dark and you're bolted into this metal rig, and if the kaiju gets his claws on her head, you got nowhere to go!" He caught himself and cringed. "The counselors and my mama say I shouldn't try and discourage you."

Mako tried not to sound cross. "You won't. So...your mother knows you don't want to do it?"

Matty nodded, staring at his knees. "I think...she kind of always knew. She'll be proud of me no matter what I do," he added defiantly. "She said so."

A lump was forming in Mako's throat, making it difficult to talk. "I thought...we were drift compatible."

It was several minutes before he answered. "Maybe...I dunno, maybe we would be. But I asked Mama and Caleb about it, and even their psych analyst at the Shatterdome. They all say - if one partner doesn't want to do it, it won't work. Drifting doesn't scare me; drifting sounds kind of cool. Just... not fighting, not in a real Jaeger against a real kaiju. It's no video game."

"You think I think it's a video game?"

"I didn't say that!" he snapped. Then he sighed. Mako had to look away to wipe her eyes where he wouldn't see. "Maybe you're braver than me." Another long silence fell over them. Finally, he muttered, "I'm sorry, Mako."

She knew she should tell him it was okay, and that they would still be friends. But her mind was whirling too fast, mixed up with too much anger and fear that she'd be going to the Academy next year without a chosen partner. Less than a quarter of candidates who came in unmatched were able to be matched at all.

They left without saying anything else to each other.

She didn't say anything to Aaron or Liling, though all her friends knew something had happened. When she called Tamsin that night on the web cam, she promptly burst into tears and cried so hard she couldn't even talk for several minutes.

Then she had to apologize for scaring Tamsin, and insisted she didn't want to conference Sensei into the call. "Matthew won't go to the Academy," she finally managed to explain. "He doesn't want to."

_"Oh._" Tamsin reached toward the screen as if she'd like to pull Mako through it for a hug. "_I'm sorry, my love. I know you had high hopes for matching with him. But you have to let him make his own choices."_

"But what am I to do now? Liling can't be a pilot, and Aaron won't be eighteen for almost two years!"

Tamsin smiled sadly. "_Well... you should do just what you planned for _yourself _even before Matthew made up his mind. Apply for yourself, work for yourself. Look for a partner at the Academy. Remember, being friends was no guarantee. Lots of friends aren't drift compatible."_

It was only then that Mako really considered that she and Matty ought to stay friends.

* * *

It took a few days for her to stop smarting enough to actually go up and talk to him, at a point where she could be sure she would neither burst into tears nor hit him in the nose. "You hate my guts now, don't you?" he asked, sounding resigned.

Mako shook her head. She couldn't really claim that she wasn't mad at Matthew for leaving her without a partner and making her give up what she'd planned on, but... never being friends with him again? She didn't want _everything _to end now, not after all they'd gone through together.

"I thought it was...meant to be," she admitted. "You and I would become pilots just like our parents, and I would avenge my family."

"I thought I was the religious one," Matty said dryly. "God doesn't always make stuff easy."

_Neither do you. _She managed not to say that, but Matty picked up on it from her mood anyway.

"I got stuff of my own I want to do, Mako. You can't pin your plans on me. Even if I was going to Academy with you, that'd be stupid. What if we went to Academy and didn't pass the cut? You'd just give up?"

"No." It annoyed her so much when Matty acted like he knew more about the world than she did. She had been more places with Sensei and Tamsin than Matthew Davis ever had! But as Tamsin had told her, Matty had made his mind up, and there was no point in fighting with him over it. Mako sighed and changed the subject. "What are you going to do after graduation, then?"

"Go to college," he said immediately. His chin went up. "The counselors say I can get scholarships just about anywhere, with my grades and Mama's GI and PPDC benefits. I'll be the first in my family to get a degree."

"In what?"

"Dunno yet." Mako eyed him. Neither of them were very good at dissembling. Matty avoided her eyes and finally said, "I might major in English. Or maybe art."

Well, no wonder he'd been worried about how she would react. She barely managed to keep the disgust out of her voice. "You'll go study painting or poetry while the rest of us are at war?!"

"See? I _knew _you'd say that! You look down your nose at everybody who doesn't fight."

"I do not! Liling isn't fighting, but she'll be a K-Scientist and do _something _to help stop the kaiju!"

"And what's the point of it all if we haven't got anything to fight _for?_ Not everybody's cut out to be a soldier, and it don't mean everybody else is a coward. Girl, you're like those crazy old ladies in the World War movies, walking around giving people white feathers. There's a reason we don't have a draft anymore."

Mako almost stormed off right then. But something made her stop. They still had months of classes before graduation, and after that, until she was almost eighteen, she'd be here. If Matty left for college, she might not see him again. "I don't think people should be drafted. But it's wrong to pretend the war doesn't affect everybody."

Matty folded his arms and leaned against the red brick wall. "I never said it doesn't. My mama knows what I want to do; she's all the way behind it. She used to tell me she joined the Marines because she didn't have a lot of choices, but she stayed with the service so I _would _have choices. Just because I don't fight or be an engineer doesn't mean I don't believe in the Rangers. All those recruiting posters, Jaeger models, those poems about war you love? Someone like me made all that."

She supposed that was a fair point. Matty was always more interested in the stories about _life _during wars in the past, not just the battles and the weapons. "I still don't understand," she said, but there was less rancor in it. Maybe she'd never understand Matthew Davis.

But Matty had an answer for that. "Ain't no law that says you've gotta understand everyone."

In the end, she had to be satisfied with that.

She had started in eighth grade at age twelve, and had the credits to graduate high school before her seventeenth birthday. Matthew Davis had started in seventh grade at age thirteen, but rocketed up through the grades to graduate at the same time that she did.

Mako made a deal with Sensei: she would stay in Nittany Valley in 2022, taking classes at the local college to train for engineering and robotics and martial arts, as dual-enrollment junior faculty. Then, at the end of the year, she would apply to Class 2023-A, which would begin just before her eighteenth birthday. If she succeeded at the Jaeger Academy, she would be eighteen by the time she qualified as a pilot.

Matthew opted to go straight to university once he had his high school diploma. True to his hopes, his test scores and grade point average, as well as his status as the son of former Marine and current Ranger Tanisha Davis, landed him scholarship offers from some of the best universities in the United States - and even some outside it.

Matty picked Harvard.

"Dude!" Aaron Schoenfeld exclaimed. "You said you were the first kid in your family to even go to college, and you pick _Harvard? _Not just Ivy League, no, you gotta go all the way!"

Matty was smug. "There's more than one way to do 'go big or go home.'"

"That should be a slogan for the Jaeger Program," said Liling.

Aaron grinned. "It does fit. 'Go big or go extinct.'"

"They should put that on a recruiting poster," Matty agreed. He gave Mako a smile, and she found that it was getting easier to smile back.

* * *

_December 2021..._

At graduation, smiling got harder, but mostly because Mako was afraid she would cry as it sank in that she and Matty were going their separate ways, maybe never to reunite. At least never to be together again the way they had for the past four years.

It was somewhat comforting that Matty got very quiet as graduation day went on, and finally muttered to her in a rough voice, "I'll miss you."

She did _not _want to be the first one to cry. But all she could do was nod.

"You still mad at me?"

She shook her head and... damn it, she was crying. So she just gave up and threw her arms around his neck. Then she heard him sniffle and, well, at least she wasn't the only one any more.

Somehow, the funny side of it all came through, and with tears still falling, Mako started giggling, and Matthew started laughing too. They hugged tighter and tighter until she thought they'd break each other's ribs, but it made it all feel a little better. Eventually, her voice had steadied enough to talk again.

"Are you moving to Boston right away?"

"Cambridge, not Boston. Not until next summer. I'll go stay with Grandma in LA until then, and go camping with Mama and Caleb after the next kaiju engagement. Kinda like a gap year, just for six months."

"I'll start classes with the dual enrollment program in January."

Matty gave her a sly grin. "Is it really dual enrollment if you've already graduated? You'll just be a college student."

"One who still lives at her old school," Mako agreed. "I'm not the only one who's done that." Liling was staying too. She would apply to Class 2023-A with Mako. Aaron would have to wait until he turned eighteen to even apply; his mother had flatly refused to give him permission while he was underage. He wasn't even being allowed to apply to university early, so he'd have to settle for what dual-enrollment offered.

Only Matty Davis would be moving on now. "I keep wondering what I'm thinking," he admitted. "I hated having to start all over somewhere completely new when I came out here. I didn't want to do it. Now I'm doing it by choice, going to the hardest school in the country."

"My Sensei says no one ever stops being scared," Mako mused. "Brave people are just the ones who carry on even though they're scared." Matty's smile was starting to get the same wobbly look that Mako could feel on her own face, and to give them both a chance to stop looking at each other, she threw her arms around his neck. "I'll miss you."

"You too."

When the four of them, Mako, Matty, Liling, and Aaron, reconvened with their various parents and guardians to say goodbye, their chaperones mercifully didn't comment on their red eyes and tremulous expressions. "You'll be awesome at Harvard," Aaron told Matty. "I think you'll be a philosopher."

"I haven't decided on a major yet!" Matty protested, but behind him, Ranger Davis actually winked at Aaron. (Matty had taken all the philosophy and religion electives available, despite having to wheedle exemptions for the ones available only to seniors and juniors. He'd ended up blowing away the grading curves for most of them, much to the older students' dismay.) To Mako and Liling, he said, "This year'll be over fast. You're just lucky to have the extra time to prep for screening."

For a parting gift, he gave them each a painting that he'd done, shrouded in secrecy in his final art class. It was modeled on the World War II recruiting posters, with a painted Jaeger on a yellow background. Mako's Jaeger was Coyote Tango. Liling's was Horizon Brave. Above them blared the slogan: _Go Big or Go Extinct. _

* * *

**~Coda~**

Liling Gáo, Jaeger Academy Class 2023-A

Liling Gáo would attend Class 2023-A of the Jaeger Academy with Mako, but with a health exemption that would remove her from the Ranger applicant track. There was a precedent for this: Hermann Gottlieb and Newton Geiszler were among the most prominent graduates who had never been in contention for piloting, and Liling Gáo soon joined their ranks in K-Science's senior staff.

When the entire department faced massive budget cuts, Dr. Gottlieb was the one who persuaded Liling to take a position with a private bioscience firm studying "kaiju extermination" in Hong Kong, so that she'd keep her employment and health benefits.

During preparation for Operation Pitfall, Liling was in regular contact with Drs. Gottlieb and Geiszler, off the clock and at her own expense.

* * *

Aaron Schoenfeld, Jaeger Academy Class 2024-B

Aaron, being a year younger than Mako, wasn't permitted by his mother to apply to the Jaeger Academy until he had turned eighteen. He finally reached legal age in May 2024, and passed screening and the first cut of his class with flying colors... only to learn that his would be the last class, as the Academy was being decommissioned and sold.

Even the great Dr. Jasper Schoenfeld told his son that the time for Jaegers was over, and he might as well look into applying to universities inland.

Aaron flatly refused to consider abandoning the war effort, and used his considerable metalworking skills to land construction jobs around Kodiak Island on the Wall projects - so that he could volunteer on the Mark-3 Restoration Project. He worked on the restoration of Gipsy Danger up until she was relocated to Hong Kong, and by that time, he had sufficient credentials to justify a field promotion to project staff.

During their time working together in Kodiak Island, Mako and Aaron tested with each other in the pons science lab, but were disappointed to learn that they had no potential for drift compatibility.

Despite entreaties from both of his parents to leave the Hong Kong Shatterdome, Aaron swore he would stay with the Jaeger Program until there were either no Jaegers left or no kaiju left.

He saw that promise through.

* * *

Matthew Davis, Harvard College Class of 2026

Four months before he began classes at Harvard, the media did a fluff piece on a mural that Matthew Davis had painted in his old Los Angeles neighborhood. It was a trio of Jaegers, the ones who had defended Los Angeles during the attacks by Yamarashi in 2017 and Goad in 2020: Gipsy Danger, Chrome Brutus, and his mother's mech, Yankee Star, beneath the stylized slogan, "Go Big or Go Extinct." The PPDC and several marketing companies ended up buying the rights to the image, and then it was everywhere: posters, T-shirts, coffee cups, lunch boxes, and trading cards. Jaeger enthusiasts around the world could get it in their own language with their particular favorite Jaeger.

Mako, Liling, and Aaron considered it a matter of pride to collect them all. By the time Matty actually started classes at Harvard in summer 2022, he'd earned enough money to finance his education even without the scholarships, and he was being hailed for fostering a new wave of interest and enthusiasm for the Jaeger Program - and funding that would build, repair, and support it.

Matthew Davis elected to pursue a joint degree in government and African-American studies, and a secondary concentration in English. Upon turning eighteen, he stepped confidently out of the veil of protection that his family and the PPDC had placed around him and engaged the media as an outspoken advocate of the Jaeger Program and communities living on the front lines of the kaiju war.

Associated Press writer and frequent Jaeger Program chronicler Naomi Sokolov called Davis "_the most brilliant and productive mind produced by the Jaeger generation - even held up against the men and women who actually designed and built the Jaegers_. _There's solid historical precedent for roles like the one Matthew Davis has undertaken. Genius engineers and courageous fighters design and wield the tools of war, but the thinkers and the writers are the ones who ensure we will remember it._"

**~Fin~**

**PLEASE don't forget to review!**

**Original Character Guide **

Liling Gáo: Mako's roommate, same age as Mako, born and raised in Hong Kong, China, granddaughter of General He Liang, who is commanding officer of the Hong Kong Shatterdome. Her family moved to the inland United States in 2016 after Reckoner, and she was enrolled along with a younger cousin at Nittany Valley Prep.

Tanisha Davis: right hemisphere pilot of Yankee Star, America's Mark-2 Jaeger (an original Jaeger character). African-American from Los Angeles, mid-30s, single mother, former US Marine who once served in Iraq with Bruce Gage, and followed him to Alaska along with several other military personnel to join the fledgling Jaeger Program after K-Day.

Caleb Mitchell: left hemisphere pilot of Yankee Star, former US Marine who served with Tanisha Davis and Bruce Gage, mid-30s from rural Oklahoma. Team Yankee's history is explored in more detail in Chapter 19 of _Aurora Borealis._

Matthew Davis: son of Ranger Tanisha Davis. Mako's age, he lived with Tanisha's mother in Los Angeles until she reluctantly relocated him to the higher-security Nittany Valley Prep to protect him from media harassment. How that came about is covered in Chapter 34 of _Aurora Borealis_.

Aaron Schoenfeld: Jasper Schoenfeld's son, a year younger than Mako.

Farrah Darzi: one of Mako and Liling's "house mothers" at Nittany Valley Prep. Early 20s, Farrah is Saudi Arabian, a graduate of Nittany Valley Prep who stayed on while pursuing higher education to mentor younger students.

Mrs. Giyoda: Senior administrator at Nittany Valley Prep in charge of female students. Japanese-American in her 60s.


End file.
